The 5th Anniversary Conference of the International Commercial Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals (“ICCP-CA”), held on Wednesday 13 December 2023 in the First Civil Chamber of the Court, provided its attendees with an opportunity to celebrate a significant milestone in the evolution of international commercial law. The event brought together practitioners, academics, and other key stakeholders to reflect on the achievements of the ICCP-CA since its establishment five years ago. Squire Patton Boggs was represented by its Paris Managing Partner and Head of International Dispute Resolution in Paris, Ms. Carole Sportes, who has an extensive experience of litigating before the ICCP-CA.

The panelists took the opportunity to reflect on the distinctive features of the ICCP-CA. The ICCP-CA specializes in handling complex international commercial disputes, such as disputes concerning the annulment of arbitral awards, international commercial contracts and termination of commercial relations.

The ICCP-CA is also capable of handling complex commercial matters relating to transportation; unfair competition; anti-competitive commercial practices; transactions in financial instruments; market standard master agreements; and financial contracts, instruments, and products.[1]

The ICCP-CA has been tailor-made for disputes relating to international arbitration, owing to its flexible procedural rules:[2]

  • The court is composed of English-speaking judges specialized in international law;
  • Hearings can be conducted in English, and documentary evidence can be filed in English without translation into French.[3]
  • Parties set out a procedural timetable by common agreement for the entire course of the proceedings.[4]
  • Witnesses and experts can provide written statements and thereafter testify at the hearing; and both the judges and counsel may put questions in English to witnesses, and experts.[5]
  • Experts or witnesses may express themselves in a foreign language and simultaneous interpretation will be carried out by a translator.[6]
  • Oral proceedings held in French may be subject to simultaneous interpretation at the parties’ request.[7]
  • Executive summaries of the ICCP-CA’s decisions are published in English.[8]

In order for these attractive features of the ICCP-CA to apply to their proceedings, parties shall agree – during the course of the first case management conference – to  apply the ICCP-CA protocol.[9]

Furthermore, thanks to EU Regulations, decisions rendered by the ICCP-CA are enforceable in the countries of the European Union.[10] Since its creation, the ICCP-CA has rendered over 440 decisions. 

Participants also engaged in discussions about the Court’s role in shaping precedent and contributing to the harmonization of international commercial law. The panelists highlighted the ICCP-CA’s commitment to fostering alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, emphasizing the availability of mediation and arbitration as efficient options for parties involved in cross-border disputes. In sum, the panelists concluded that:

“The fifth anniversary of the Chamber is an opportunity to take stock of its achievements by reviewing the progress made since 2018, the modus operandi, the perception of the Chamber’s users, its strengths and areas for improvement.

This occasion permits us to consider the future of an institution that has reached maturity and, more broadly, the way in which French courts handle international disputes.”

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For more information, please reach out to Mmes. Carole Sportes, Laure Perrin, or Marie-Claire Da Silva Rosa.

[1] Protocol on Procedural Rules Applicable to the International Commercial Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals signed on 7 February 2018 (hereinafter the “Protocol”, available here), Article 1. An international commercial chamber has also been created at the Paris Commercial Court on 7 February 2018 with similar procedural rules.

[2] For a more detailed analysis of the Protocol, Cf. The International Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Paris: a new attractive international dispute resolution procedure, R. Dupeyré and M.-C. Da Silva Rosa, Brazilian Journal of Alternative Dispute Resolution – RBADR, , Vol. 1, No. 2 (2019): Jul./Dec., p. 227-240.

[3] Protocol, Article 2.2.

[4] Protocol, Article 4.3.

[5] Protocol, Article 5.

[6] Protocol, Article 3.3.

[7] Protocol, Article 3.2.

[8] Protocol, Article 7, available at: https://www.cours-appel.justice.fr/paris/decisions-ccip-ca-iccp-ca-judgements.

[9] Protocol, Article 4.3.1. It must be highlighted that the mandatory rules of the French Code of Civil procedure continue to apply to the proceedings. In particular, the time limit of articles 909 and 910 for the parties to notify their briefs are applicable to any proceedings before the ICCP-CA.

[10] Article 39 of the Brussels I Bis Regulation.