A common expectation of parties who seek to arbitrate their disputes is that the arbitral process will enable them to resolve those disputes more rapidly than if recourse had to be made to the courts. ICC arbitration was, thus, originally conceived as a very rapid dispute resolution process. Indeed, until 1975 the ICC Rules required the arbitral tribunal to render its award within only 60 days. Today, the Rules provide that the arbitrators shall have six months to render their award from the time when the Terms of Reference become effective. However, due to the increasing litigiousness of parties in arbitration and the growing sophistication and complexity of arbitration practice, it is the rare case in which compliance with this time limit is possible.

The trend towards longer and costlier arbitrations has, thus, spurred interest in alternative dispute resolution techniques designed to speed up the process of obtaining a final and satisfactory resolution of claims. There is little doubt that one of the challenges for institutions such as the ICC International Court of Arbitration today is to find ways of responding to the growing demand of parties in this regard.

The "fast-track" arbitration described in the series of articles included in this issue of the Bulletin demonstrates the ICC's commitment to helping parties to resolve their disputes as swiftly as possible and is a development of considerable significance. A complex dispute with millions of dollars at stake was resolved by arbitration within a period of little more than two months. The readers of the Bulletin will undoubtedly study with interest the descriptions of this "fast-track" arbitration contained in the articles contributed by the different participants, including the parties counsels, the Chairman of the arbitral tribunal and the counsel in charge of the case at the ICC Court's Secretariat.

The various practical considerations relating to the conduct of an arbitration, once the Terms of Reference have been finalized, are also reviewed in a substantial and very thorough analysis of the ICC arbitral process by Dr. Marc Blessing, whose considerable experience of ICC arbitration as both counsel and arbitrator is evident in his article in this issue of the Bulletin, which supplements the articles on the constitution of the arbitral tribunal and the Terms of Reference that appeared in the two previous issues of the Bulletin.

Finally, the ICC is pleased to be able to provide in this issue of the Bulletin additional extracts from arbitration awards on the subject of interest supplementing those contained in the previous issue.

Eric A.Schwartz

Secretary General

ICC International Court of Arbitration