Abstract

The New Assistance ICC Provides to Protect the Confidentiality of a ‘Sealed Offer’

By Christopher Seppälä, Paul Brumpton, Mariele Coulet-Diaz

English

ICC has reissued its Note to Parties and Arbitral Tribunals on the Conduct of the Arbitration under the ICC Rules of Arbitration. The amendments made in this latest version, dated 1 March 2017, include a section describing the assistance available from the Secretariat of the ICC Court in managing and safeguarding sealed offers. This article explains the mechanism and purpose of sealed offers, their potential value in ICC arbitration proceedings as a means of improving cost-efficiency, and ICC’s role as guardian of such offers. In an appendix to the article, the authors provide a model document containing sample wording which parties will find useful when submitting a sealed offer.