ICC 2024 arbitration and ADR preliminary statistics published

Introduction

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) recently published its preliminary arbitration and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) statistics for 2024. Compared to its statistics for 2023 (discussed here), the data demonstrates that the ICC has had a significant increase in terms of the total value of arbitration claims pending, noting that the average and median data points are relatively far apart. Other data points roughly track that of previous years. 

Caseload and total value of claims

New cases

• In 2024, the ICC registered 831 new arbitration cases under the ICC Arbitration Rules. This is slightly lower than the 890 that were registered in 2023.
• 10 further cases were filed under the ICC Appointing Authority Rules (excluded from graph above).
• The average amount in dispute for a new case was $130 million, but this seems to have been significantly inflated by a few large cases because the median amount in dispute for new cases was approximately $5 million.

Overall pending cases

• 1,789 cases remained pending at the end of 2024.
• The average amount in dispute for pending cases was $211 million, which is a significant increase from the average amount in dispute in 2023 filings ($65 million).
• The median amount in dispute for pending cases was $14 million, again suggesting that a few large cases increased the average significantly.

Emergency and expedited procedures

• 17 new cases began with emergency arbitrator applications, down from the 28 emergency arbitrator applications filed in 2023.
• 152 new cases were administered under the Expedited Procedure Provisions (EPP), slightly lower than the 189 new cases filed under the EPP in 2023. The procedure was established in 2017, and the ICC Court has since administered 865 cases under the EPP.

Global reach

• Parties from 136 jurisdictions participated in ICC arbitrations in 2024. This seems to be roughly on par with the figure in 2023 (141 countries and independent territories).
• No figures have been released on the most popular choices of arbitration seats.
• On parties, the top 10 countries from which parties originated were the USA, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Italy, the PRC and Hong Kong, Germany, Turkey, France and the UAE.
• 45 states and 143 state-owned entities were involved in 159 cases filed during 2024. This accounted for 19% of new cases. This is a slight increase from the 16% of new cases in 2023 that involved a state or state-owned entity.

ADR

• 61 requests were filed with the ICC ADR Centre in 2024, of which 37 were under the ICC Mediation Rules, 20 were under the Expert Rules, three were under ICC Documentary Instruments Dispute Resolution Expertise Rules, and one was under the Dispute Board Rules. These numbers seem roughly on par with 2023 statistics, in which the ICC ADR Centre registered 75 cases across these various Rules.

Comment

This preview of the full caseload statistics shows that the ICC has had another strong year, both in terms of number and value of cases and global each. Based on the content of previous reports, we can expect the full report, which is set to be released later this year, to cover other areas, including:

1. Detailed breakdown of parties' preferred choices of law and tribunal seat;
2. Arbitrator diversity and gender diversity in party-appointments trends over the past year; and
3. Operation of the ICC Court's scrutiny process in the past year, including any delays that affected the arbitration process.

As other arbitral institutions release their statistics for 2024, this will also offer the opportunity to conduct a fuller comparison of the ICC's performance against other, more regional institutions.