(Effective from October 1, 1994)

Summary

The WIPO Expedited Arbitration Rules consist of the WIPO Arbitration Rules modified in certain respects in order to ensure that the arbitration can be conducted in a shortened time frame and at reduced cost. To achieve these objectives, four main modifications have been introduced into the WIPO Arbitration Rules:

(i) The Statement of Claim must accompany (and not be filed later and separately from) the Request for Arbitration. Similarly, the Statement of Defense must accompany the Answer to the Request.

(ii) There is always a sole arbitrator.

(iii) Any hearings before the sole arbitrator are condensed and may not, save in exceptional circumstances, exceed three days.

(iv) The time limits applying to the various stages of the arbitral proceedings have been shortened. In particular, the proceedings should, whenever reasonably possible, be declared closed within three months (as opposed to nine months under the WIPO Arbitration Rules) of either the delivery of the Statement of Defense or the establishment of the Tribunal, whichever event occurs later, and the final award should, whenever reasonably possible, be made within one month (as opposed to three months under the WIPO Arbitration Rules) thereafter.

List of Modifications

The following is the list of the modifications to the WIPO Arbitration Rules that are made in the WIPO Expedited Arbitration Rules:

1. The following paragraph is added to Article 4 of the WIPO Arbitration Rules:

"(h) The Center may, in consultation with the parties, reduce the period of time referred to in

Article 11."

2. Items (iv) and (v) of Article 9 of the WIPO Arbitration Rules are deleted.

3. Item (vi) of Article 9 is replaced by the following:

"(vi) any observations that the Claimant considers useful in connection with Articles 14 and 20."

4. Article 10 of the WIPO Arbitration Rules is replaced by the following:

"The Request for Arbitration shall be accompanied by the Statement of Claim in conformity with Article 41(b) and (c)."

5. Article 11 of the WIPO Arbitration Rules is replaced by the following:

"Within 20 days from the date on which the Respondent receives the Request for Arbitration from the Claimant or within 10 days from the date of the appointment of the Tribunal, whichever event occurs later, the Respondent shall address to the Center and to the Claimant an Answer to the Request which shall contain comments on any of the items in the Request for Arbitration."

6. Article 12 of the WIPO Arbitration Rules is replaced by the following:

"The Answer to the Request shall be accompanied by the Statement of Defense in conformity with Article 42(b) and (c)."

7. Articles 14 to 19 of the WIPO Arbitration Rules are replaced by the following Article:

"Sole Arbitrator

Article 14

(a) The Tribunal shall consist of a sole arbitrator, who shall be appointed jointly by the parties.

(b) If the appointment of the sole arbitrator is not made within 15 days after the commencement of the arbitration, the sole arbitrator shall be appointed by the Center."

8. In Article 25 of the WIPO Arbitration Rules, the words "within 15 days" are replaced by the words "within seven days."

9. Articles 41(a) and 42(a) of the WIPO Arbitration Rules are deleted.

10. Article 53(b) of the WIPO Arbitration Rules is replaced by the following:

"(b) If a hearing is held, it shall be convened within 30 days after the receipt by the Claimant of the Answer to the Request and the Statement of Defense. The Tribunal shall give the parties adequate advance notice of the date, time and place of the hearing. Except in exceptional circumstances, hearings may not exceed three days. Each party shall be expected to bring to the hearing such persons as necessary to adequately inform the Tribunal of the dispute."

11. The following paragraph is added to Article 53 of the WIPO Arbitration Rules:

"(e) Within such short period of time after the hearing as is agreed by the parties or, in the absence of such agreement, determined by the Tribunal, each party may communicate to the Tribunal and to the other party a post-hearing brief."

12. The following sentence is added to Article 55(a) of the WIPO Arbitration Rules:

"The terms of reference shall include a requirement that the expert report to the Tribunal within 30 days of receipt of the terms of reference."

13. In Article 63(a) of the WIPO Arbitration Rules, the words "nine months" are replaced by the words "three months" and the words "three months" are replaced by the words "one month."

Consolidated Text

A consolidated text of the WIPO Expedited Arbitration Rules may be obtained from the WIPO Arbitration Center. In that text, two conventions have been followed:

(i) Provisions that represent modifications of the WIPO Arbitration Rules are printed in bold italics.

(ii) Where the modifications to the WIPO Arbitration Rules have resulted in the deletion of Articles or paragraphs, the number or letter of the deleted Article or paragraph has been retained accompanied by the annotation [Article [paragraph] not used]. This has been done in order to retain the correspondence between the numbers of Articles in the WIPO Arbitration Rules and in the WIPO Expedited Arbitration Rules.

Schedule of Fees

The Fees of the Center are the same as for an arbitration under the WIPO Arbitration Rules.

The arbitrator's fees are determined in the same way as the fees of an arbitrator in an arbitration under the WIPO Arbitration Rules.