The International Court of Arbitration (ICC) has issued a new checklist for drafting ICC arbitral awards. The checklist prompts arbitrators on the key information that they should be providing when preparing their awards for submission to the ICC, such as:

In addition, the checklist provides guidance on the presentation and structure of awards to further enhance clarity and readability.

The checklist does not purport to be exhaustive, or mandatory, or otherwise binding on arbitrators. Rather, it is provided as guidance to help make sure that busy arbitrators do not miss any necessary detail which will, in turn, contribute to the quality of ICC awards and the efficiency of the scrutiny process. The checklist will be distributed to arbitrators when they receive a case, as well as to all arbitrators in ongoing proceedings. It will also be published in the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin and the ICC Dispute Resolution Library.

The checklist is part of an ongoing drive to improve efficiency at the ICC (see also Legal update, Changes to ICC statement on availability and independence).