News
2001

ICC Awards on Commercial Agency Published

The ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin has published, in its latest issue (vol.12/no.1), extracts from 16 awards dealing with commercial agency rendered by ICC arbitral tribunals between 1995 and 1999.

As Fabio Bortolotti points out in his commentary of these awards, "commercial agency agreements are the simplest and probably the most popular means of organizing the distribution of goods and services in foreign countries". However, like any contract, they may run into difficulties, leading to disagreements between the parties involved. Many turn to arbitration for an answer, and it is the solutions reached recently by several arbitral tribunals that are now made publicly available for the first time. For the sake of confidentiality, any details allowing the parties to be identified have been removed.

Issues covered in the awards and Fabio Bortolotti's discerning analysis include: arbitrability, applicable law, rights and obligations of the parties, termination of the contract and indemnification in the event of termination.

Commercial agency agreements, although maybe the most frequent, are not the only means of distributing goods in foreign countries. Other methods include franchising and distributorship, for example. The Spring issue of the Bulletin also includes an article by Corinne Truong on the law applicable to the merits in international distribution contracts, as reflected in ICC arbitral awards.

Whilst substantive issues relating to international business law are central to the Bulletin's purpose, so too is arbitration procedure. The latest issue looks at two important and controversial questions - discovery and confidentiality. Stepping back from the polemics of the discovery debate, Brian King and Lise Bosman offer some practical reflections on discovery in international arbitration, whilst Hans Bagner charts changing attitudes to confidentiality and calls for a concerted effort to ensure what is one of arbitration's most valued advantages.

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