The International Court of Arbitration was created by the International Chamber of Commerce. Its role is defined in the Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration that the ICC makes available to businesses operating in the field of international trade. It is not a state institution or an inter-governmental organisation, but rather a private body whose role is strictly limited to the settlement of disputes for which arbitration under the ICC's auspices is provided.

The ICC International Court of Arbitration is unique. Its members are independent from governments, and are mainly lawyers, former judges, university professors, barristers or legal counsels. Each member is nominated by his/her National Committee and appointed by the ICC Council which itself is composed of one representative from each of the ICC's National Committees. The Council elects its Chairman as well as its Vice-Chairmen.

The Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration are adopted by the ICC Council. The Court has the capacity to interpret and apply the Rules. Where applicable, it also allows parties to make contractual provisions for the exclusion of certain of its clauses on a case-by-case basis. In fact, the Rules are not statutory in character, and their force is purely contractual: they are applied pursuant to a clause that is binding on all the parties to the dispute. Indeed, by dint of agreeing that any dispute that may arise will be dealt with by arbitration in accordance with the ICC's Rules, individuals, or private or public entities, are deemed to have submitted in advance to the institution's interpretation of the Rules, and to its current practice in this field, for example, with regard to the choice of arbitrators, the determination of costs and fees in accordance with the published scale, etc.

The ICC International Court of Court of Arbitration is not a court as such and does not itself decide the substantive issues of any case. Its powers are those defined in the Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration. The decisions it takes with a view to administering arbitration cases are not judicial decisions. In case of dispute, they are subject to supervision by the relevant national courts, in particular the French courts since the ICC's headquarters are located in France. As the ICC Court is not in itself a separate moral entity, the ICC - an association under French private law - may be obligated by its decisions.

The administration of arbitrations includes a whole range of legal acts. Some of these are done or recorded by the ICC Court's Secretariat. However, it is understood that any decision that may affect an interest or a right of a party or an arbitrator is taken by the Court in plenary session or by the Committee of the Court, depending on the case. The files kept by the Court's Secretariat contain details of every stage of the case, particularly in relation to decisions taken by the Court, where applicable with the relevant reasons. Viewed as a whole, these decisions, taken case-by-case, develop into a genuine jurisprudence that is both coherent and constantly evolving.

<underline>Note:</underline> The Bulletin wishes to express its sincere thanks to Mr Michael J. Tschudin, from the United States, for his able assistance in reviewing the translations of the texts on the application of the ICC Rules by the Court in this issue, as part of his internship at the ICC Court’s Secretariat.