Originally from Between East and West: Essays in Honour of Ulf Franke

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I. INTRODUCTION

Institutional arbitration bodies play a very considerable role in settlement of international business disputes. Parties are free to choose between ad hoc arbitration and institutional arbitration. When making their choice, they obviously take into consideration existing differences between two types of arbitration. As is known, in case of institutional arbitration an arbitral body, not settling disputes itself, performs certain functions aimed at proper handing of arbitration proceedings under its rules. This kind of activity has a notable impact upon the effectiveness of arbitral proceedings. The very fact that parties often prefer to resort to institutional arbitration demonstrates the significant positive role of arbitral institutions in support of arbitral proceedings.

Activities of an institutional arbitration body to promote arbitral proceedings under its rules, including proper performance of the abovementioned functions, contribute greatly to the success of such a body. A very good example in this regard is the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (the SCC Institute), which is quite rightly ranked among the leading institutional arbitration centers of the world. To a large extent this is due to many years of tireless fruitful efforts by Mr. Ulf Franke, Secretary General of the SCC Institute, a prominent figure in the world of arbitration, a highly respected, learned, goodhearted person, our dear friend and colleague.

II. PURPOSE OF THE ARTICLE

The purpose of this article is to consider some activities of institutional arbitration bodies from a procedural point of view, taking as an example the International Commercial Arbitration Court (the ICAC) of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (the RF CCI) and drawing some comparisons with the SCC Institute and the International Court of Arbitration (the Court) of the International Chamber of Commerce (the ICC).