ICC, International Chamber of Commerce, is an international Court of Arbitration, an institute to resolve worldwide commercial disputes. The International Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1923 under the supervision of Etienne Clemente, the first president of the ICC and a former French minister of finance. The ICC consists of more than 100 arbitrators from around 90 countries. The headquarters of the ICC is in Paris, France.
Membership Duration
The respected members of the ICC Court of Arbitration are appointed for the three-year terms by the ICC World Council on the recommendation of the ICC national committees or groups. In some scenarios where there is no national committee or group, members are recommended and appointed by the court’s President. Alternate members are selected by the World Council on the suggestions of the President of the court.
The International Chamber of Commerce provides judicial supervision of arbitration proceedings rather than issuing formal judgments, as the name suggests. The court offers two official working languages, English and French. However, cases can be filed in any other language.
From its creation till 2019, ICC had 25,000 registered cases, and now in 2022, it has achieved a significant milestone of writing 27,000 points.
The current International Court of Arbitration President of the International Chamber of Commerce is Alexis Mourre.
ICC’s Achievement
The ICC targeted its milestone of achieving 27000 cases in early 2021 and recently announced that it has successfully reached its milestone of registering 27000 instances. The 27000th case is a dispute between parties from Africa active in the energy sector and will be supervised outside of Paris by ICC Court Secretariat. Alexander G. Fessas, Secretary-General of the ICC Court, informed the media that as the ICC World Council is reaching its century, the recently registered case is crucial for the court. She added that this case from Africa demonstrates the true diversity of the courts’ workload and evidence that the ICC cares for the development of arbitration and ADR in Africa. She also told the media that Africa is a crucial continent for ICC, as there are multiple cases registered from this continent which consists of 193 parties from 35 countries.
For a decade, ADR and the development of arbitration in Africa have been a significant focus of the ICC. To make the establishments, the court formed its Africa Commission in 2018. The Commission was created to enhance capacity in the African region, attract a broader range of stakeholders across the continent, and increase the awareness of and reachability of ICC’s dispute resolution services and know-how.
Since the formation of the African Commission, it has worked hard under the supervision of the ICC Court’s Belt and Road Commission to improve the development of ICC’s existing infrastructure and procedures to resolve Belt and road cases. In 2021, the ICC launched the ICC-ECA Center Of Entrepreneurship in Africa, a body to resolve Entrepreneurship-related disputes.
In the same year, the International Chamber of Commerce established an African Regional Director role to enhance the ICC Court of Arbitration outreach in the continent of Africa. And Diamana Diawara was the first person appointed as the ICC African Regional Director. She was appointed to regulate and supervise all operations in the African region while also engaging all ICC stakeholders, like law firms, businesses, States, and state-owned entities, as well as the ICC’s African Action Network of national communities and chambers.
In addition to the above efforts of ICC. It also launched a new program, “Hold the Door Open.” This program was established to provide a unique opportunity for young arbitrators of Africa to gain practical experience in observing arbitration hearings and resolving related disputes.
The ICC is a significant and prominent forum for arbitration in Africa. Its sixth annual conference,” ICC annual Africa Conference,” will be held from 1st to 3rd June 2022, in a hybrid format in Lagos, Nigeria. On 1st June, along with the ICC Africa conference, the ICC Institute of World Business Law Advanced Training on Assessment of Damages by Arbitrators will also be conducted.
Conclusion
Global law enforcement and dispute-resolving bodies are essential to maintaining peace, discipline, and justice worldwide. The International Chamber of Commerce resolution services are comprised of a wide choice of administered procedures to resolve domestic and international disputes and are entirely neutral. These facilities are available globally for everyone, from individuals to public and private enterprises.