Appointment

The Arbitral Tribunal may appoint an Administrative Secretary, but only if no party has an objection and the Secretary's tasks do not exceed those described in this Note. Prior to making any such appointment, the Arbitral Tribunal must advise the parties of the person whom it wishes to appoint after having verified that such person satisfies the same requirements of independence as are laid down in the ICC Rules for the arbitrators. The Arbitral Tribunal must also advise the parties of the tasks that the Administrative Secretary is to carry out. The Arbitral Tribunal shall immediately inform the Secretariat in writing of the appointment of an Administrative Secretary.

Cost

The Arbitral Tribunal should inform the Secretariat and the parties as early as possible of the estimated cost of the Administrative Secretary so that this may be taken into account when the Court fixes the advance on costs for the arbitration.

It shall normally be the Arbitral Tribunal's responsibility, however, to pay the Administrative Secretary out of the fees awarded to the arbitrators by the Court, the amount of which shall be solely for the Court to decide in accordance with Article 31(1) of the ICC Rules. The fees of the Administrative Secretary shall therefore not normally be treated as expenses of the Arbitral Tribunal, although reasonable expenses of the Administrative Secretary (e.g. for travel) shall be reimbursable as such.

In deciding upon the amount of the arbitrators' fees when an Administrative Secretary has been appointed, the Court will normally be concerned to ensure that the engagement of such person does not increase the cost of the arbitration to the parties. Indeed, the scale of arbitrators' fees set forth in Appendix III to the ICC Rules is intended to cover the Arbitral Tribunal's normal cost of carrying out the administrative tasks associated with the performance of the Arbitral Tribunal's work, with the exception of out-of-pocket disbursements (e.g. for telephone, telefax, postage, special courier, photocopying and travel).

Arbitrators wishing to appoint an Administrative Secretary should therefore not normally assume that the fees awarded to them, after deduction of any amounts payable to the Administrative Secretary, will be equivalent to those that they might have received if they were not so assisted.

The Court can, however, be expected to take into account exceptional circumstances that may warrant greater compensation in some cases.

Duties

The duties of the Administrative Secretary must be strictly limited to administrative tasks. The choice of this person is important. Such person must not influence in any manner whatsoever the decisions of the Arbitral Tribunal.

In particular, the Administrative Secretary must not assume the functions of an arbitrator, notably by becoming involved in the decision-making process of the tribunal or expressing opinions or conclusions with respect to the issues in dispute.

The Chairman of the Arbitral Tribunal or the sole arbitrator, as the case may be, bears full responsibility for the behaviour and activities of the Administrative Secretary, and the ICC Court cannot in any case be held responsible for the payment of such Secretary's social security charges or taxes or for other obligations or any errors committed by such person.