'I. Introduction

1. On 10 December 2001 and 15 January 2002, the Respondent and the Claimant respectively entered into a Distribution Agreement dated 10 December 2001 (the "Distribution Agreement"),

2. Article 10-2 of the Distribution Agreement provides that "in the event of a disagreement between the two parties regarding this Agreement and the enforcement thereof, both parties agree to pursue resolution of said dispute through the Rules of the Conciliation and Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce by one or more arbitrators designated in accordance with said Rules".

3. No reference is made in the Distribution Agreement to the language of any arbitration that might be brought pursuant to the provisions of said Article 10.2.

4. At paragraph 22 of the Request, Claimant has stated: "In view of the language used in the Agreement and in the entire business correspondence between the parties, Claimant hereby requests that English be the language of the arbitral proceedings."

5. In its prayer for relief, Respondent has stated "qu'elle souhaite que le Tribunal Arbitral retienne l'usage de français".

6. At the Preparatory Conference held in Paris on 2 July 2003, Claimant put forward the following additional arguments in support of its request for the use of the English language as the sole language of the arbitration:

- All prior drafts of the Distribution Agreement had been in English;

- The subject matter of the Distribution Agreement was the performance of services in Australia where the native language is English;

- All correspondence exchanged between the parties pursuant to the Distribution Agreement and with respect to the dispute brought before the arbitral tribunal .was in English;

- All Annexes to both the Request for Arbitration and the Answer are in English;

- The Distribution Agreement and the dispute are in an international context, the predominant language of which is English;

- During the negotiations it was the Respondent which had insisted on the insertion in the Distribution Agreement of an ICC international arbitration dispute resolution clause, thereby placing any dispute into an international context where English is the predominant language;

- To use a language different from English would be unfair to [Claimant] which does not use the French language and would increase the costs of the arbitration proceedings;

- It was the Respondent that had chosen to do business in Australia and not the Claimant that had decided to work in France;

- It was the Respondent that had put itself into an international context;

- The fact that the Claimant had accepted to have the seat of the arbitration in Paris was a concession in favour of the Respondent and should not be taken as an indication of a willingness to have French as the language of the arbitration;

- The language of the proceedings should be determined taking into account the abilities of the parties and not their counsel.

7. At the Preparatory Conference, the Respondent indicated that it was willing to accept the use of English as the language of the arbitration provided that the Respondent could express itself in the French language. The Respondent put forward the following arguments in support of its position:

- [Respondent] is a French company and is the respondent in the proceedings;

- Counsel to the Respondent is not able to express himself in the English language;

- The arbitral proceedings are being conducted on the French territory;

- Translation of the Respondent's submissions from French into English should not cause the Claimant a real difficulty;

- Certain of the negotiations of the Distribution Agreement were conducted in French.

II. Article 16 of the ICC Rules of Arbitration

8. Article 16 of the ICC Rules of Arbitration provides as follows: "In the absence of an agreement by the parties, the Arbitral Tribunal shall determine the language or languages of the arbitration, due regard being given to all relevant circumstances, including the language of the contract."

III. The Tribunal's finding

9. It appears to the Tribunal that the English language has been the predominant if not the exclusive language used by both parties in respect of the performance and the termination of the Distribution Agreement.

10. The Distribution Agreement itself has been drafted in the English language.

11. All of the correspondence that has been produced to date in this arbitration is in the English language.

12. The only exception that has been brought to the Tribunal's attention is that, according to the Respondent, certain negotiations were apparently conducted in French. No particulars of such negotiations or the circumstance thereof have however been provided to the Tribunal. In any event it to [sic] the Tribunal that the English language was the working basis of the parties' relationship in respect of the Distribution Agreement.

13. The arbitration proceedings have been brought by an Australian party against a French party in respect of e Distribution Agreement the Territory of which is "Australia and New Zealand and their respective purchasing agencies in the United Kingdom" (see Schedule B to the Distribution Agreement).

14. The "Principal" under the Distribution Agreement is the Respondent, the French party, whereas the "Distributor" is the Australian party. It was therefore the French party which sought to do business in Australia where English is the native language and not the Australian party seeking to do business in France where French is the native language.

15. The law applicable to the Distribution Agreement refers, in addition to the laws of the European Economic Community, to a statutory instrument of England and Wales, namely the "Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993", Statutory Instrument 1993 No. 3053.

16. Given therefore the language of the contract and the other circumstances which the Tribunal has considered relevant, the Arbitral Tribunal takes the view that English should he the language of the arbitration.

17. Notwithstanding the foregoing, given that counsel to the Claimant is a French speaker, any legal materials (laws, case law, jurisprudence, etc.) which are originally in the French language and upon which a party wishes to rely may be submitted in the original French language without a translation into English.

IV. Decision

For the reasons stated above, the Arbitral Tribunal's decisions are as follows:

1. The language of the arbitration is English.

2. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any legal materials (laws, case law, jurisprudence, etc.) that are originally in the French language may be submitted without a translation into the English language.'