The New ICC Rule on Consolidation: Progress or Change?

In September 2011, the International Chamber of Commerce ('ICC') published the tenth revision of its Arbitration Rules. A task force of more than 175 members from forty-one countries revised the ICC Rules, starting in October 2008. These new rules will enter into effect on January 1, 2012, replacing the current ICC Rules that entered into force on January 1, 1998. Numerous changes were made, ranging from the trivial to the significant.

This Article analyzes the expansion of the provision on consolidation in an attempt to predict whether there will be material improvement in the consolidation process or whether the changes made will have only a superficial effect.