New provisions to accommodate the potential for multi-party arbitrations, including to facilitate appointment of arbitrators in such arbitrations and the late joinder of additional parties. Notably, there is no provision to facilitate consolidation of arbitrations in multi-contract scenarios.

A requirement that the respondent(s) to an arbitration serve a response to the notice of arbitration within 30 days of receipt thereof. This addition is likely to be welcomed by corporate counsel who, during the consultation process, had indicated dissatisfaction with this element of the previous Rules, under which a respondent might take no step in the proceedings until service of its defence, potentially some months into the arbitration.

The rules in relation to the granting by an arbitral tribunal of interim measures have been expanded and, in particular, include specification of the test that the tribunal will apply to an application for such measures. An applicant will be required to show that:

The new Rules will be presumed to apply to arbitrations where the relevant agreement was concluded after the date of their adoption. However, without a subsequent ad hoc agreement, they will not apply to arbitrations arising from treaties or agreements concluded before adoption. This means that, in practice, the old Rules will remain relevant for some time to come.

A number of new features contained in the Rules aim to enhance procedural efficiency, including revised procedures for the replacement of an arbitrator, the requirement for reasonableness of costs and a review mechanism regarding the costs of arbitration.