In late March 2022, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) announced that its Administrative Council, comprising 156 Member States, had approved the amendments to ICSID Rules and Regulations (including Arbitration Rules) as submitted for vote in January 2022. The amended Rules and Regulations will come into effect on 1 July 2022.
The amended ICSID Arbitration Rules cover topics such as third-party funding, claims with a “manifest lack of legal merit”, security for costs, expedited proceedings, arbitrator appointment and disqualification, a tribunal’s first session and deliberations, filing methods, time limits for awards, as well as publication of arbitration materials and confidential information. In addition, the jurisdictional requirements under ICSID Additional Facility Rules have been relaxed. Pursuant to those amendments, neither the State nor the investor is required to be an ICSID Member State or a national of one. Regional economic integration organisations, such as the European Union, may also access ICSID arbitration.
ICSID’s press release is available here.
The amended ICSID Rules and Regulations are available here.
Fietta’s previous updates on ICSID amendments are available here, here, here, here, and here.