ICDRO's Rules
Rule 1. Ownership & Operational Structure of ICDRO
1. ICDRO is a quasi- autonomous Committee, or Division of ABS&P International Law Firm ("ABS&P") which is a division of Alexander Byrne Sidhu & Partners SA registered in the National Registry of Costa Rica, Number: 3-101-814796, as a corporation providing legal and allied business services. It is regulated under the Commercial Code of Costa Rica. a) Since September 2023, its deliverables have been limited to ADR Policy Advisory, Nominations and Early Neutral Evaluation services.
1) By ABS&P's internal policies, its Managing Partner as a fully admitted lawyer, shall act as the Chief Registrar of ICDRO. In the conduct of his administrative (non-financial) and professional duties, he shall be advised by the President of the Board of Advisors.
Rule 2. Board of Advisors
1. ICDRO shall maintain a Board of Advisors ("BOA") which shall be headed by a President (of the Board of Advisors) who shall be appointed by the Chief Registrar upon consultation with the President of ICDRO.
a) Subject to the provisions of these Rules, the President of the Board of Advisors, who shall be a Member of Council of ICDRO, shall represent the BOA to ICDRO’s Council on his /own volition or when invited to do so by the Chief Registrar. His /her primary task, in the context of the role, is to provide non-binding advice and guidance to the President and Chief Registrar of ICDRO on all operations of ICDRO.
a) Within the remit of these Rules, the President of the Board of Advisors, as the BOA’s administrative and professional head, is able to participate in all operational and professional meetings of ICDRO. This shall include appearing as the professional engaged by ICDRO (or assisting the professional appointed by ICDRO) for providing services that ICDRO may be engaged to provide or for guiding the decisions made at any of ICDRO’s meetings and /or for offering advice to the Council generally and in particular to the Chief Registrar and President of ICDRO, on ICDRO’s professional and commercial undertakings.
2. The President of the BOA, upon consulting with the President and Chief Registrar, shall appoint the BOA’s members, which shall consist of a maximum of 5 Council members and a minimum of 2 member of Council inclusive of the President of the BOA. All Vice Presidents of ICDRO are ex-officio members of the BOA and need not be specifically appointed to the BOA by the BOA President and notified to the Chief Registrar. Any non ex officio BOA member appointment must be notified to the Chief Registrar in writing within 5 days of the appointment. The BOA shall not be considered active and effective unless an effective BOA board has convened by the BOA President and its members (excluding ex-officio ones) notified to the Chief Registrar.
a) BOA members, excluding ex officio ones, can be changed at any time at the option of the BOA President, but written notice of the change (including notification of the BOA’s President’s resignation), must be given to the Chief Registrar.
b) The BOA cannot include members who are the Chief Registrar and the President of ICDRO or his /her active deputy of deputies.
b) The President of the BOA, after consulting with the BOA members, shall decide all its undertakings.
c) All actions and decisions of the President of the BOA may be reviewed by the Chief Registrar whose decision in the matter shall be final.
d) The President of the BOA, as the BOA’s representative, may, in any manner of his /her choosing, subject to these Rules and at his /her unilateral discretion, or if requested by the BOA or any of its members, at any time, represent any matter or matters concerning the operation of ICDRO to the Chief Registrar. Such matter or matters may include any complaints from ICDRO’s members in regard to the operation of ICDRO or any suggestions they may have for the improvement of ICDRO as an organisation.
3. The President of the BOA, upon consultation with the BOA members or on his /her own volition (by 2 days' written notice to the Chief Registrar) or when invited by the Chief Registrar, participate in all operational meetings of ICDRO’s and shall be entitled to vote at such meetings if this is relevant.
4. The President of ICDRO, upon consulting with the President of the BOA and with the consent of the Chief Registrar, or the Chief Registrar, on his own volition after consulting with the President of ICDRO and the President of the BOA, within the remit of these Rules, may appoint any person to be a member of the BOA. Where such appointments are made, the Council of ICDRO shall be informed in writing by the Chief Registrar within 3 days of the appointment.
5. Any BOA member, or members, may offer non-binding financial management advice to the Chief Registrar at any time.
6. All decisions or advice of the BOA shall be persuasive but not binding upon ICDRO unless this is specifically stated otherwise in these Rules.
Rule 3. Administrative Costs Policy
1. ICDRO’s operational policy is to deliver its services on a pro bono basis and to cover its relative costs by way of invited voluntary donations which are negotiated with parties involved on an event-by-event basis.
2. Where invited donations are not made, ICDRO has the unilateral option to not deliver, or perform the relevant service.
Rule 4. Administrative Structure
1. Patrons and Honorary Members
(a) ICDRO's Patrons and Honorary Members are non-executive appointees who subscribe to the objectives and methods of ICDRO. Where appropriate, upon the invitation of the Chief Registrar, they may take part in ICDRO's engagements.
(b) They do not participate in the administrative, or financial management of ICDRO and are appointed by the Chief Registrar of ICDRO.
2. Council
(a) ICDRO’s Council is its management body which is headed by the President of ICDRO. It is comprised of the President of ICDRO, President of the Board of Advisors, Deputy Presidents, Vice Presidents, Chief Registrar, Deputy Chief Registrars, Patrons, Honorary Presidents and Vice Presidents and honorary members of council. All Deputy Vice Presidents shall be deemed Members of Council for the duration of their appointment as deputies.
b) Honorary Members of Council - the President of ICDRO, with the consent of the Chief Registrar, or the Chief Registrar on his own volition after consulting with the President, may appoint any person to be an honorary member of Council. Honorary members shall have the same rights and obligations of ordinary members of Council in regard to the general activities of the Council as an advisory or decision-making body. Where such appointments are made, all members of Council shall be informed in writing by the Chief Registrar within 3 days of the appointment.
2. President of ICDRO
a) President - the President of ICDRO may be an acting (interim), honorary or non-honorary appointee.
b) He /she leads its Council and is appointed by the Chief Registrar of ICDRO after consulting with the Managing Partner of ABS&P International Law Firm. The President’s duties and responsibilities are as set out in these Rules.
c) At his/ her unilateral discretion, the President may delegate his duties to ICDRO’s Chief Registrar, the President of the Board of Advisors, or a Deputy President.
3. Council's Composition
a) ICDRO's President, Patrons, Honorary President, Vice Presidents, Deputy President of ICDRO, President of the Board of Advisors, Chief Registrar and Deputy Chief Registrars are its professional and administrative resource as Council members. They assist ICDRO’s President in the expeditious and effective delivery of ICDRO’s engagements.
4. Deputy Presidents
a) ICDRO’s President may appoint one, or more Deputy Presidents upon the advice of ICDRO’s Chief Registrar. A Deputy President may deputise for the President upon his/he instruction and besides, shall have such other standing functions and responsibilities in accordance with these Rules as may be approved by the President. At his/ her discretion, a Deputy President, with the consent of the President may delegate his duties to a Vice President, or the Chief Registrar.
5. Vice Presidents
a) ICDRO’s President, with the approval of the Chief Registrar, may appoint one, or more Vice Presidents who shall deputise for the Chief Registrar in regard to matters concerning the operational efficiency and integrity of ICDRO in the context of its technical operation and these Rules. He/ she shall report to the President of ICDRO.
6. Chief Registrar
a) The Managing Partner of ABS&P International Law Firm shall be the Chief Registrar of ICDRO provided that he /she is qualified as a lawyer. Where he /she is not qualified as a lawyer, the majority owner/s of ABS&P International Law Firm, shall nominate a suitably qualified alternative for the consideration of the Council of ICDRO who shall decide on the nomination, or nominations by majority vote within 5 days of the nomination /s with ICDRO's President having a casting vote in the event of a tie.
b) In the conduct of the non-financial affairs of ICDRO, the Chief Registrar, may, at this unilateral option (other than where specified elsewhere in these Rules) invite the guidance of the President of the Board of Advisors
b) Where the position of President of ICDRO becomes vacant, until a successor is appointing, the Chief Registrar shall assume the role of Acting President with full powers of the President.
c) The Chief Registrar's role shall be as specified in these Rules.
d) At his/ her unilateral discretion, the Chief Registrar may delegate his duties to the President of the Board of Advisors, a Deputy Registrar of ICDRO, or any Registrar of ICDRO provided such duties are not those delegated to him/her by the President, a Vice President, or a Deputy President when in such cases approval from the President shall need to be gained for the delegation by the delegatee.
e) All decisions specified in these Rules to be made by ICDRO shall be made by the Chief Registrar, or deemed to be made by him /her unless this is specifically stated to the contrary within these Rules.
7. Deputy Chief Registrars
a) The Chief Registrar may appoint a Deputy, or Deputies who shall deputise for him /her in his/her absence, or upon his/ her request. Deputy Chief Registrars shall have such other duties as may be specified in these Rules. Subject to the unilateral discretion of the Chief Registrar,
b) Deputy Chief Registrars shall be serving (where this is possible), or former state judicial officers, or equivalent and shall be professionally qualified as mediators and arbitrators.
c) At their discretion, Deputy Registrars may delegate their duties to any Registrar of ICDRO provided such duties are not those specifically delegated to them by the Chief Registrar when in such cases approval from the Chief Registrar shall need to be gained for the delegation.
8) Registrar/s
a) There may be one, or more Registrars of ICDRO. Each shall be professionally qualified in any field of dispute resolution and shall be appointed by the Chief Registrar. Each shall have such functions/ duties as may be allocated to them under these Rules by the Chief Registrar.
b) Registrars shall not be members of ICDRO's Council.
Rule 5. Time Provisions, Language and Scope of the Rules
1. In regard to time provisions in these Rules, days shall mean calendar days and shall exclude public holidays in the seat of the arbitration.
2. English is the default language of the Rules. Where there is any inconsistency or conflict between the English version and any other languages in which the rules are published, the English version shall have precedence.
Rule 6. Amendment of the Rules
1. For clarifications of the Rules, minor amendments and the correction of typographical or grammatical errors, the Rules may be amended at any time by the Chief Registrar on his/her initiative, or upon the proposal of any Member of Council.
a) When such amendments are made, the updated version of the Rules shall be published by the Chief Registrar on ICDRO’s website within five (5) days of the amendment/s.
2. Substantive changes to the Rules may be initiated by the Chief Registrar, or by any Member of Council. The proposed changes, to be adopted by ICDRO, must be supported by the unanimous decision of ICDRO’s Council which members shall be given five (5) days written notice by the Chief Registrar of their obligation to decide.
a) By these Rules, silence by a Council member within the time frame allocated for their decision, shall be deemed an affirmation.
3. Unless required by law, any amendment to the Rules shall not have retrospective effect.
4. Within five (5) days of the amendment of the Rules, the Chief Registrar shall give written notice of the amendment/s to:- a) Parties who have already commenced, or fully registered for ICDRO arbitration and all ICDRO Registrars.
5. The amended Rules shall bear the date of the amendment/s and shall be published by the Chief Registrar on ICDRO’s website, or web page within five (5) days of the amendment/s.
Rule 7. Reference to “Writing”, or the “Written” Form
1. In these Rules, “in writing”, “written”, etc., unless required otherwise by operation of law, or in these Rules, shall include all forms of electronic communications.
Rule 8. Practice Directions
1. The Chief Registrar may make directions in regard to the operational policies of ICDRO as an ADR Court.
2. The directions shall be published by the Chief Registrar as addendums to these Rules and shall be known as Practice Directions. They shall be effective upon their publication and shall be binding upon all parties involved in any proceedings of ICDRO.
3. Practice Directions shall be effective only when they are published on this webpage and may be withdrawn or amended at the discretion of the Chief Registrar. Such withdrawals or amendments shall be effective only when noticed on this webpage.
4. Where any Practice Direction conflicts with any Rule, the Practice Direction shall have priority.
Rule 9. Function of Registry
1. ICDRO's Registry is the administrative office of ICDRO. It is headed by the Chief Registrar. All communications from the Registry's email address: icdro@absplawyers.com, may deemed to have been sent with the authorisation of the Chief Registrar.
Rule 10. Requests for Services
1. ICDRO's mission is to be a highly convenient and effective vehicle for the delivery of ADR Policy Advisory, ADR Nomination and Early Neutral Evaluations.
2. Requests for Early Neutral Evaluations
(a) A national court, or disputing parties may apply to the Chief Registrar at any time for ICDRO to conduct an Early Neutral Evaluation of any relevant litigation, or ADR proceedings in process in which they are involved.
(b) Conduct of the ENE
1. Early Neutral Evaluation (“ENE”) is a dispute resolution procedure which may be utilised for the quick, efficient and cost-effective resolution of litigation and ADR proceedings.
2. The ENE procedure allows disputing parties to submit their case to ICDRO, within the guidelines provided by this Practice Direction, for a preliminary decision on how things might be decided should the litigation go to trial, or ADR commences or continues as the case may be.
3. For ICDRO to entertain any application for ENE, the parties will need to communicate to the Chief Registrar by email that they have agreed for ICDRO to conduct, or facilitate the ENE.
4. The parties will also need to inform the Chief Registrar whether they will accept the ENE’s assessment to be binding, or merely informative.
5. Once this information it to hand to the Chief Registrar's satisfaction, the Chief Registrar shall forthwith commence the ENE facilitation.
6. At any time during litigation, or ADR proceedings, provided the mediator, arbitrator, or state judge (as relevant) handling the case and the disputing parties agree, the adjudicator, mediator, judge, or a party, or the parties to the dispute may apply by email to the Chief Registrar of ICDRO for ENE.
7. Upon receipt of the application, the Chief Registrar, within 3 days of its receipt, by return of email, may either notice its acceptance to the parties and agree costs with them, or may decline it without giving any reason. (viii) If the parties, or a party to the dispute object to the appointment of the expert by the Chief Registrar, they may refer the matter to the President of ICDRO by email within 3 days of their dissatisfaction whose shall decide the matter within 3 days and whose decision shall be final.
8. If the parties do not accept the President’s decision, or fail to refer the matter to the President within the time provided for this, then the Chief Registrar shall inform them by email that their application for ENE has been declined.
9. Within 3 days of the parties acceptance of the appointment of the expert by ICDRO, the appointed expert shall give directions and information to the parties for the conduct of the ENE in regard to:-
a) the exchange of skeleton arguments specifying the maximum length of the submissions and the time period for their submission
b) the serving of notice of the parties to each other in regard to the written evidence they wish to rely on for the purposes of the ENE
c) the period within which the parties are to lodge their core bundle of documents for the expert
d) the time and date of the ENE hearing and its anticipated duration.
e) how the opinion of the expert is likely to be provided which in any event shall be at their discretion.
f) The papers submitted by the parties being subject to be retrieved by them after the ENE is concluded; that the ENE is entirely confidential unless the parties agree otherwise and that no non-party shall be entitled to obtain a transcript of the hearing.
10. At any time during the ENE process after an expert has been appointed and agreed by the parties, the parties, or a party (or any Member of Council of ICDRO, or the state judge, or ADR expert handling the case immediately before the ENE commenced) may complain to the Chief Registrar by email in respect to the expert's conduct of the ENE.
a) Upon receipt of the complaint, the Chief Registrar shall promptly suspend the ENE and refer the complaint to the President of ICDRO who shall decide the matter after consulting with the expert and the parties. The President's decision shall be final
3. Requests for Nomination
1. Any party wishing to engage ICDRO's nomination service for the appointment of a mediator or arbitrator is to contact the Chief Registrar in the first instance.
4. ADR Policy Advisory
1. Any party wishing to engage ICDRO's ADR Policy Advisory service is to contact the Chief Registrar in the first instance.
5. Engagement Procedure and Costs
1. The procedure to be adopted for the engagement of ICDRO's services and the costs involved shall be as the Chief Registrar, the parties and /or the referring national court (as necessary) shall decide subject to any relevant provisions in this Rule 10.
Rule 11. Payments, Currency & Tax Liability
1. All fees, costs or donations payable to ICDRO are to be made in GBP except where this is forbidden by law. Payees shall indemnify ICDRO from all tax or other regulatory liability in their country in connection with their payments.
Rule 12. ICDRO's Liability arising out of Engagements
1. Save where any act or omission is not shown by any party to an ICDRO engagement conducted pursuant to these Rules to be a wilful and deliberate wrongdoing on the part of the body or person alleged to be liable to that party; or where any part of the event in question is shown to be prohibited by any relevant law, ICDRO officers (in any capacity whatsoever), honorary officers, members, employees and any of its contracted associates (in any capacity), its Council and any Committee set up under its Rules, shall not be liable to any party whatsoever for any act or omission in connection with such events.
Rule 13. Dispute Resolution & Jurisdiction
1. A condition of any party’s engagement of ICDRO is that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear any dispute between that party and ICDRO which may arise out of or in connection with any such engagement.
2. All disputes shall submit exclusively to the courts and laws of England and Wales.
PUBLISHED BY THE CHIEF REGISTRAR AND EFFECTIVE FROM 1 AUGUST 2022
Schedule of Amendments
3rd November 2022 – Part A, Art. 1, para 5.1 28th January 2023 – 1) Part A, Art.1, para 5.2 (a); 2) correction of minor text and formatting errors. 11th February 2023 – Amendments to fees and costs payable. 15th February 2023 - Inserted new Part E. 20th February 2023 - adjustment of the Rules upon the temporary transfer of IDRO as a division of ABS&P to Alexander Horizon Holdings Incorporated, a limited liability company in Belfast, Northern Ireland, trading as: ICDRO - International Court of Dispute Resolution Online. 21st February 2023 -Amendment to Part B. 24th February 2023 - Amendments (general) regarding the appointment of members of Council. 25th February 2023 - Amendments to Part A. Art. 6 - clarification of the function of ICDRO's Registry; Part A. Art. 5 - Institution of Practice Directions; Part A. Art. 1 (5.1 (e) Appointment of Chief Registrar; Addition of - (Addendum to Rules) Practice Directions. 26th February 2023 - a) Amendments to Part A (Arts. 1 and 3 - initiation and adoption of amendments to the Rules; Appointment of Chief Registrar; Ownership of ICDRO; b) General corrections: all publications specified in these Rules to be made by ICDRO shall be deemed to be made by the Chief Registrar; c) Part B. Art. 3 - ENE referrals. 27th February 2023 - Practice Direction Nr. 3 (27.2.2023) pursuant to Rule Part.B, Art.3 (Requests for Early Neutral Evaluations). 1st March 2023 - Part A, Article 1 - Members of Council to constitute Board of Advisors ("BOA") for ICDRO as a commercial entity, Appointment of BOA members: Appointment of Honorary Members of Council. 12th March 2023 - General minor amendments for typos corrections; for providing clarity on ICDRO's and JO's costs; in person mediations & arbitration and ICDRO's engagement policies for consulting, training, accreditation and advisory services. 23rd March 2023 - General amendment to Rules in respect to assumption of ownership of ICDRO by ABS&P International Law Firm effective from 23rd March 2023. 30th June 2023 - a) pursuant to Art. 3 (1), clarification of the relationship between ABS&P International Law Firm and ICDRO; b) procedure for minor amendments to the Rules by Chief Registrar. 31st August 2023 - amendment to the Rules concerning the appointment of an Acting President and the Chief Registrar's role in that regard. September 23rd 2023 - amendments to the Rules concerning the mission, operational structure and services of ICDRO. January 7th 2024 - minor amendments to Rules correcting the structure of ICDRO and the responsibilities of its members. October 4th 2024 - provision for appointment of President of the Board of Advisors and ancillary matters; correction of typing and grammatical errors as well as minor content errors; clarification on the appointment and role of the President of the Board of Advisors.