News
2001

New tongues for ICC arbitration

To facilitate and foster the understanding of its Rules, the ICC International Court of Arbitration lays great store by making them available in languages other than its two official working languages, English and French.

The 1998 Rules of Arbitration and the 1988 Rules of Conciliation are published in printed form as ICC Publication 581. This booklet already exists in the following languages: English, French, Arabic, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. A Dutch version will shortly become available.

An increasing number of languages is available on the Court's web site. It now offers the Rules of Arbitration in Dutch and Portuguese, bringing to eight the number of versions which may be consulted and downloaded. A number of other versions not currently available in electronic format are also listed, with details of the ICC National Committees from which they may be obtained.

The value of the ICC Rules of Arbitration and the wish to bring them to as wide a public as possible has also led to a number of translations made independently of ICC and its National Committees. These include a translation into Serbian of the Rules of Arbitration, published in the Yugoslavian arbitration journal Arbitraža (I/2000, pp. 99-120), and a translation into Persian of the Rules of Arbitration and the Rules of Conciliation, published in the Law Review (vol. 24/1999) of the Iranian Bureau for International Legal Services.

It is hoped that the settlement of international business disputes, which transcend linguistic boundaries, will benefit from the availability of the Rules in an increasing number of languages. Attention is drawn, however, to the fa ct that the English and French versions are the only authoritative texts.