The German-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, head-quartered in Zurich, has issued revised Arbitration Rules, effective as from 1 July 2012. The revision follows in many aspects the trends shown in other recently revised rules in institutional arbitration by further enhancing procedural efficiency and by introducing a fast track procedure. However, as compared with other institutional arbitration rules, the German-Swiss Chamber of Commerce sets a counterpoint by explicitly providing for arbitral proceedings structured in accordance with the procedural tradition familiar to the users in the geographic area of its clientele: The proceedings will follow the inquisitorial, not the adversarial system. The arbitrator shall attempt to reconcile the parties in various stages of the proceedings; he may even use caucus sessions to achieve such goal. The common law system of presenting evidence (e. g. written witness statements) is not admitted in principle; it is the arbitrator who puts the questions to the witnesses.
ASA Bulletin