ICC case management team begins operations in Singapore

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has inaugurated a new case management office in Singapore. This was done in pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Singapore Ministry of Law in June 2017..The Singapore office signifies ICC’s fourth case management team outside of Paris, and the second in Asia. The other case management teams are located in Hong Kong, New York and Sao Paulo. These teams effectively administer cases in accordance with the ICC rules..The new office is located in Singapore’s Maxwell Chambers, which also houses ICC’s Asia Regional Office and its Academy..During its first months of operation, the case management team will comprise a counsel, a deputy counsel and an assistant. It will progressively expand by accommodating additional deputy counsel and assistant positions..An official inauguration ceremony was attended by over 150 participants and featured an address by Guest of Honour, Indranee Rajah SC, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Law and Finance. Rajah said,.“We are pleased that ICC is expanding its presence here. The new ICC case management office is a welcome addition to Singapore’s dispute resolution landscape. Singapore is one of the most preferred dispute resolution centres in the world, and a key node of international commercial dispute resolution services in Asia. .ICC’s presence here is testament to the open and inclusive nature of our regime. With the launch of this ICC case management office, Maxwell Chambers will now house five case management offices, the largest number located in a single venue.”.ICC Court President, Alexis Mourre said,.“Singapore is synonymous with excellence and ICC will contribute to that reputation by offering the highest standards in dispute resolution to meet the demands of users in Singapore and beyond. .We are already seeing a growing number of cases featuring Singapore parties, arbitrators and Singapore laws and our new case management team here in the country will bring the benefits of our flexible and globally recognized services to even more users in the region.”.In 2017, as per ICC dispute resolution statistics, Singapore retained its number 1 rank as ICC’s top arbitration seat in Asia, for the eighth time. Singapore was chosen in 38 of 79 new cases seated in South and East Asia, moving up to the fifth most popular place for ICC Arbitration following France (121), Switzerland (90), the United Kingdom (73) and the United States (51)..In the South and East Asia region, Singapore accounted for close to 8% of all parties represented in an ICC arbitration, following Korea (20%) India (19%) and China (16%)..Singapore also ranked in the top 20 list of arbitrators by nationality in 2017, with 25 appointments or confirmations of Singaporean arbitrators. This represents close to 30% of all appointments or confirmations in the South and East Asia region..The overall number of arbitral appointments in South and South East Asia grew from 74 in 2016 (5.2%) to 85 in 2017 (5.7%)..The statistics also revealed that a total of 810 new cases filed with the arbitration body in 2017 from a record 142 countries..Speaking on the expansion to South Asia, Abhinav Bhushan, Director for ICC, South Asia said,.“We are very excited to have our second case management team in Asia. With the ICC Singapore Case Management Team, we’d be able to cater to the parties in the region, and specially to the Indian parties. .A majority of Indian international arbitration work now comes to Singapore and we are now able to replicate our world class administration services also in Singapore which were earlier being offered from Paris, Hong Kong, New York and Sao Paulo.”.In 2016, the ICC India Arbitration Commission was established with Chairman Ciccu Mukhopadhyay at its head. Its Vice Chairman, Ajay Thomas was appointed in October last year..For more details, visit the Commission’s website: http://www.iccindiaonline.org/arbitration/iag.html