On 23 March 2026, the Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) has announced the approval of a revision of its Arbitration Rules that will enter into force on 1 June 2026 and will apply to all requests for arbitration filed as of that date.
The ICC’s anticipated revision follows a broader trend among arbitration institutions. Recent examples include the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”), which approved new sets of arbitration rules on insolvency and ethics on 26 August 2025; the London Court of International Arbitration (“LCIA”), which has opened a consulting period with a view to revise its arbitration rules on 11 March 2026; and, in Spain, the Corte Española de Arbitraje (“CEA”), which approved its new rules on 1 January 2026.
The ICC has not yet published the full text of the updated rules, which will be released prior to their entry into force. According to the ICC, the new rules will introduce new procedures and improvements to existing provisions—with a focus on expedition and effective case management—without undermining flexibility. They state that the parties’ ability to select arbitration and tailor procedures will be preserved. The International Court of Arbitration President, Claudia Salomon, has summarised this aim by stating that “[t]hese revisions make the rules clearer and arbitration more efficient, while preserving the flexibility and procedural integrity that parties expect.”
Despite the succinct terms of the ICC’s announcement, some specialised media like the Commercial Dispute Resolution magazine (“CDR”) have already advanced some of the specific developments that the new rules will bring.
These developments will include, according to CDR, a new “super-fast” arbitration procedure, in addition to and faster than the existing Expedited Procedure introduced in 2017. The timings of this new procedure are expected to match those of other equivalent procedures introduced by other courts like SIAC’s Streamlined Procedure and CEA’s Hyper-expedited (“hiperabreviado”) Procedure, under both of which the proceedings are to be completed within three months of the appointment of the arbitrator. The value threshold and the parties’ discretion to opt out of this procedure remain uncertain, though some even point to the absence of any threshold at all (CDR).
It has also been suggested—although also not officially confirmed—that the new revision will bring a removal of the Terms of Reference from the rules in order to simplify the proceedings, presumably by incorporating its content into the first Procedural Order as in the expedited procedures of most sets of arbitration rules.
The new rules’ emphasis on efficiency and flexibility is also expected to give rise to further innovations in line with reforms adopted by other arbitration courts on matters such as the early determination of claims and enhanced transparency regarding third-party funding—as well as, hopefully, a clearer regulation of multiparty and multicontract arbitration, including issues of joinder and consolidation.
