Issues to be Considered when using IT in International Arbitration

The Task Force on IT in Arbitration, chaired by Erick Schäfer, was mandated to study specific issues raised by the use of IT in arbitration. In carrying out its mandate, it decided:

• To provide an overview of IT issues that may arise at specific stages of the arbitral process and those that can be relevant at any stage of the proceedings (examples of the latter are the interoperability of hardware and software and the protection of intellectual property rights);
• To propose completely voluntary and flexible procedures and approaches for using IT in international arbitration, presented as boilerplate texts that parties and arbitrators can freely modify in any way that makes sense in the context of their particular arbitration;
• To encourage reflection and debate on the use of IT in international arbitration by inviting comments on the proposed boilerplate texts and suggestions as to alternative or additional procedures that might be better serve parties and arbitrators in the setting of an international arbitration.

The first two aims led to the drafting of documents that are published in the 2004 Special Supplement of the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin (“Using Technology to Resolve Business Disputes").  Click here  to order it.