Le Emergency Arbitration Rules nel nuovo Regolamento di Arbitrato della Camera di Commercio Internazionale

Many reasons led the ICC to adopt new rules of arbitration, effective as of 1 January 2012, replacing those in force since 1998: indeed, it was felt necessary to update the rules, by improving the efficiency and availability of the procedures offered, in order to ensure that they could continue to serve as an efficient tool for the arbitration community. In that context, a specific need existed, which had already been addressed by other major arbitral institutions and was not satisfied by the Rules for a Pre-Arbitral Referee Procedure of 1990, of very limited application: provide for a mechanism allowing the parties to obtain urgent relief, where waiting for the constitution of the arbitral tribunal was not possible, without being forced to revert to State court intervention. For such purposes, new rules on Emergency Arbitration have been adopted and are now included in Article 29 and Appendix V of the 2012 ICC Rules of Arbitration. Even though the conditions for their applicability are rather strict (for instance, the Emergency Arbitration Rules apply only if the arbitration agreement under the ICC Rules to which they refer has been concluded after 1 January 2012), the procedure they offer seem to satisfy the needs for which they were designed. In fact, speed and efficiency are combined with the respect due to the parties’ right to be heard. The practical impact of the new rules, however, will be shown only by the experience to be gained in the near future.