DetailsHong Kong International Arbitration Centre (hereinafter “HKIAC”) initiated the revision of its 2013 Administered Arbitration Rules (hereinafter “2013 Version”) in 2017 and released the 2018 new Administered Arbitration Rules (hereinafter “2018 Version”) on September 27, 2018. The 2018 Version have come into effect on November 1, 2018.
Integrating the latest development of international arbitration, the 2018 Version has matured the 2013 Version and have introduced some special rules. The greatest feature of the 2018 Version is the inclusion of rules on Third Party Funding (hereinafter “TPF”). In accordance with the 2018 Version, the funded party shall communicate a written notice of the fact that a funding agreement has been made and the identity of the third party funder to all other parties, the arbitral tribunal and HKIAC. In addition, this disclosure obligation also applies to emergency arbitration procedures. Among the major international arbitration centers, including ICC, LCIA, SIAC and CIETAC, only HKIAC made the arbitration rules of TPF explicitly. Besides, HKIAC also made special rules of online repository of documents, single arbitration under multiple contracts, concurrent proceedings, early determination procedure, etc.
On the matters of revision of the arbitration rules, HKIAC seems to be slower. According to the 2018 International Arbitration Survey from Queen Mary University of London and White & Case LLP International Law Firm, HKIAC’s popularity in the Asia-Pacific region has lagged significantly behind the SIAC despite the fact that HKIAC is still among the top five international arbitration institutions in the world. Since SIAC published its new arbitration rules in 2016, the number of cases heard by SIAC has greatly exceeded the number of HKIAC up to now.
In view of the fact that HKIAC has become the international arbitration institution with the most choices of mainland parties and one of the five international arbitration institutions favored by foreign parties, the rules of HKIAC should be the appropriate arbitration rules worthy of reference by other arbitration institutions, in particular the new concepts and new systems. For those parties who have chosen HKIAC, they may engage a lawyer who is proficient in the HKIAC Rules.