Exchange of Information and Privilege

Article 23: Exchange of information 23.1 The arbitral tribunal shall manage the exchange of information between the parties with a view to maintaining time and cost efficiency, and at any time during the proceedings, the arbitral tribunal may order the parties to produce documents, exhibits, or other evidence it deems necessary or appropriate. 23.2 The parties may provide the arbitral tribunal with their views on the appropriate level of information exchange, but the arbitral tribunal retains final authority in this regard. 23.3 The parties shall exchange all documents upon which each intends to rely, in accordance with a timetable set by the arbitral tribunal, insofar as these have not been submitted pursuant to Articles 2, 4, 6 and 17. 23.4 The arbitral tribunal may, upon written application, require a party to make available to all other parties documents in that party’s possession not otherwise available to the party seeking the documents that are reasonably believed to exist and to be relevant and material to the outcome of the arbitration. Requests for documents shall contain a description of specific documents or classes of documents, along with an explanation of their relevance and materiality to the outcome of the arbitration. 23.5 The arbitral tribunal may make any exchange of information that is subject to claims of commercial or technical confidentiality conditional upon appropriate measures to protect such confidentiality. 23.6 When documents to be exchanged are maintained in electronic form, the party in possession of such documents may make them available in the form most convenient and economical for it (including paper copies), unless the arbitral tribunal determines, on written application, that there is a need for access to the documents in a different form. Requests for documents maintained in electronic form should be narrowly focused and structured to make searching for them as economical as possible as to time and cost. 23.7 The arbitral tribunal may, on written application, require a party to permit inspection, on reasonable notice, of relevant premises or objects. 23.8 In resolving any dispute about pre-hearing exchanges of information, the arbitral tribunal shall require a requesting party to justify the time and expense that its request may involve and may make granting such a request conditional upon the payment of part or all of the cost of producing the information by the party seeking the information.The arbitral tribunal may also allocate the costs of providing information among the parties, either in an interim order or in an award. 23.9 Documents or information submitted to the arbitral tribunal by one party shall at the same time be transmitted by that party to all parties and, unless otherwise instructed by the Chamber, to the Chamber. 23.10 The arbitral tribunal shall determine the admissibility, relevance, materiality and weight of any evidence. 23.11 In the event a party fails to comply with an order for information exchange, the arbitral tribunal may draw adverse inferences and may take such failure into account in allocating costs. Article 24: Privilege The arbitral tribunal shall take into account applicable principles of privilege, such as those involving the confidentiality of communications between lawyer and client.When the parties, their counsel, or their documents would be subject to different rules of privilege, the arbitral tribunal shall, to the extent possible, apply the same rule to all parties, giving preference to the rule that provides the highest level of protection.