On March 21, the Member States of the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) approved extensive amendments to the Centre’s rules and regulations that will go into effect on July 1, 2022. ICSID, which remains the only dedicated forum in the world for such disputes, is said to have administered over seventy percent of the known Investor State arbitration proceedings.

The major changes include the introduction of:

• Optional rules for expedited arbitration procedures (Arbitration Rules 75-86)

• An obligation, continuing throughout the arbitration proceeding, to disclose the existence of Third-Party Funding, and details of the ownership of the funder (Arbitration Rule 14)

• Provisions on the tribunal’s ability to order security for costs (Arbitration Rule 53)

• A presumption that a party has consented to the Centre’s publication of an award unless it objects in writing within 60 days of the award (Arbitration Rule 63)

• Detailed provisions on submissions of non-disputing parties and of non-disputing Treaty Parties, which could be oral or written (Arbitration Rule 67-68)

• A rule for the publication, with consent of the parties, of written submissions and supporting documents filed in the case, with any redactions agreed to by the parties. (Arbitration Rule 64) 

• Mandatory timeframes for rendering orders and awards (Arbitration Rule 58)

Some other changes include:

• The Rules for Institution of Proceedings now clearly specify what information should be included in a request for arbitration (Institution Rule 2(2)), and the Arbitration Rules specify what should be contained in the different pleadings (Arbitration Rule 30) 

• The ICSID Secretary-General is now required to notify parties of grounds for a refusal to register a request for arbitration (Institution Rule 6(2))

• The deadline for acceptance of an appointment by an arbitrator has been extended from 15 to 20 days (Arbitration Rule 19(3)(a))

• Orders and decisions of the tribunal must indicate the reasons upon which they are made (Arbitration Rule 27(2))

• There is a presumption of at least two rounds of written submissions in each arbitration proceeding unless the parties agree otherwise (Arbitration Rule 30)

• The provisions on preliminary objections have been simplified in Arbitration Rule 43, and if the proceeding results in an award, Rule 52 provides that a cost award be made in favor of the prevailing party

• Any request by the tribunal for higher fees than what is specified in the ICSID schedule must be in writing, with justification, through the Secretary-General, to the parties. (Administrative and Financial Regulation 14(2))

In addition to the amendments to the ICSID Convention Arbitration Rules and the Administrative and Financial Regulations, changes have also been introduced to the ICSID Convention Conciliation Rules, ICSID Additional Facility Arbitration Rules, and ICSID Additional Facility Conciliation Rules. 

Among the changes to the Additional Facility Rules is the possibility for Regional Economic Integration Organizations, such as the European Union, to be a party to proceedings. In addition, New Fact-Finding Rules and Mediation Rules have been introduced.