On 17 December 2020, the International Bar Association adopted the revised IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration, which supersede those of 1999 and 2010. In the absence of contrary indication, the revised rules will apply to all arbitrations in which the parties agree to apply the IBA Rules after 17 December 2020, whether as part of new arbitration agreements or in determining the rules of procedure in a pending or future arbitration.

• Commentary on the Rules (2020)
• Comparison of the Rules between 2010 and 2020

At this time, the Rules are only available in English and Spanish. Additional translations will be added here at a later date.

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On 29 May 2010, the International Bar Association adopted the new IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration, which supersede those of 1999. This version of the rules was superseded in 2020. These rules will apply to all arbitrations in which the parties agree to apply the IBA Rules after 29 May 2010 and before 17 December 2020, whether as part of new arbitration agreements or in determining the rules of procedure in a pending or future arbitration.

• Commentary on the Rules (2010)
• Commentary on the Russian translation of the Rules (2010)

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The Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest represent the most comprehensive work to date defining the framework by which the impartiality of arbitration in the international arena can be most effectively assured. The publication sets out a series of seven general standards of independence and disclosure to govern the selection, appointment and continuing role of an arbitrator. The most recent version of the Guidelines was adopted by resolution of the IBA Council on Thursday 23 October 2014. This version updates and clarifies the original Guidelines, which were approved by the Council of the IBA on 22 May 2004. The Guidelines are intended for use around the world.

A clerical error was detected in paragraph 3.1.5 of the Orange List of the revised IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration. In paragraph 3.1.5, the expression “on a related issue” (which was part of that paragraph in the 2004 Guidelines and was mistakenly deleted during the review process) has been reestablished so that paragraph 3.1.5 now reads as follows:

“The arbitrator currently serves, or has served within the past three years, as arbitrator in another arbitration on a related issue involving one of the parties, or an affiliate of one of the parties”.

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The IBA Arbitration Committee and its Task Force on Counsel Conduct have produced guidelines for party representation and counsel conduct in international arbitration.

The IBA Guidelines on Party Representation in International Arbitration are inspired by the principle that party representatives should act with integrity and honesty and should not engage in activities designed to produce unnecessary delay or expense, including tactics aimed at obstructing the arbitration proceedings.

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The IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses were approved by the IBA Council in October 2010. The Guidelines were developed by a Task Force appointed by the Arbitration Committee and composed of Paul Friedland (chair), Doak Bishop, Karim Hafez, Adriano Jucà, Carole Malinvaud, Sundaresh Menon, Jean-Claude Najar, William (Rusty) Park, Anne-Véronique Schlaepfer, Eduardo Silva Romero, Stephen E Smith, Matthew Weiniger and Damien Nyer (Secretary).

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The IBA Rules for Investor-State Mediation were adopted by a resolution of the IBA Council on 04 October 2012. The rules are designed for the mediation of investment-related disputes involving States or State entities, only applying when the mediating parties have both agreed that these rules shall apply. They govern the commencement and conduct of the mediation process, as well as the designation, resignation and role of mediators and co-mediators. Also included in the document are rules protecting the principles of independence and impartiality of mediators, privacy and confidentiality, and settlement or termination of the mediation process. 

The 13-page document entitled IBA Anti-Corruption Guidance for Bar Associations: Creating, Developing and Promoting Anti-Corruption Initiatives for the Legal Profession was drafted by the IBA’s Legal Projects Team in conjunction with an expert consultation group comprised of members of the IBA Bar Issues Commission, and the IBA Anti-Corruption Committee.

Read more about the IBA LPRU Anti-Corruption Strategy for the Legal Profession

This handbook was written to help IBA Member Bars (and all bar associations) who may be approached by the trade negotiators from their own countries. It provides everything a bar would need to know about:

• the substantive provision of the GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services);
• how the GATS' substantive provisions apply in the context of legal services;
• what has happened since the adoption of the GATS and its relevance to legal services;
• where the debates have occurred with respect to legal services (and to give you a flavour of the disagreements); and
• the developments that IBA Member Bars might be asked to respond to.

The handbook has been prepared and compiled by Professor Laurel Terry, and the International Trade in Legal Services Committee of the IBA's Bar Issues Commission. Read more on the ITILS projects page.

This report forms part of the International Bar Association’s (IBA’s) ongoing work on cybersecurity. The IBA Presidential Task Force on Cybersecurity (the ‘Task Force’) has the objective of: producing a set of recommended best practices to help law firms: to protect themselves from breaches of data security; assisting their ability to keep operations running if a breach of data security or ransom attack does occur; giving their clients the best possible assurances that their data is protected; and helping protect the reputation of the profession.

Read 2018 report

Addressing global climate change requires many solutions. Recent citizen climate litigation has led to judges in some countries requiring governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or take other steps to protect communities from climate impacts. Unfortunately, in many jurisdictions there are legal obstacles preventing citizens from even getting through the courthouse door. Judges are also experiencing difficulties adapting existing judicial procedures to remedy government climate inaction.

The new Model Statute would lower such hurdles. Building on recent successes and judicial reasoning, it highlights the role of litigation in setting requirements for governments to protect the public. With the advice of leading experts, the Model Statute provides detailed rationales, precedents and 23 specific Articles for reforms.

Read more

Global climate change is a defining challenge of our time. Dramatic alterations to the planet’s climate system are already affecting the world’s inhabitants and its natural environment.

This wide-ranging and comprehensive report from the IBA Presidential Task Force on Climate Change Justice and Human Rights identifies problems and gaps in existing legal, human rights, trade and other institutional arrangements. It contains a series of new ideas and recommendations to governments and world institutions, such as the World Trade Organization, human rights bodies, international development financing agencies, as well as specific law and corporate governance reforms to aid in the prevention and mitigation of climate change impacts and protect the human rights of vulnerable communities.

Read more about the Presidential Task Force

Read more about the report Achieving Justice and Human Rights in an Era of Climate Disruption and browse chapters online

This report addresses global taxation from the novel perspective of human rights law and policy. Based on extensive consultation from diverse perspectives, the expert Task Force offers unique insight into the links between tax abuses, poverty and human rights.

The report analyses the responsibilities and remedies to counter tax abuse and delivers recommendations for states, businesses and the legal profession.

Read more about the IBAHRI Task Force and Tax Abuses, Poverty and Human Rights

Following on from the work of the IBA Presidential Task Force on the Financial Crisis in 2009/10, the Second Phase of the Task Force has released Poverty, Justice and the Rule of Law, an in-depth report on the aftermath of the GFC and its effect on poverty, employment, welfare and good governance, featuring contributions from leading lawyers and academics including four Nobel laureates.

Read more about the Presidential Task Force

Read more about Poverty, Justice and the Rule of Law and browse chapters online

This report features an overview of the work of the Task Force from its Chair, Hendrik Haag, as well as updates on regulation from diverse jurisdictions: the US, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Japan and Russia.

This interim report looks into causes and potential solutions to the problems confronting the world's financial markets and those who depend on the resumption of an efficient and appropriate global market system.

It conveys the preliminary views of the Task Force on legal responses to the crisis, pending the publication of the full Task Force report scheduled for October 2010.

The IBAHRI convened a Task Force, comprising world-famous jurists, in order to analyse the considerable developments in international law and practice.The events of 9/11 set governments and international law-making bodies a number of complex and novel legal challenges in terms of responding to global terrorism whilst protecting people’s fundamental rights and freedoms.

Read more about terrorism and international law

In 2003, a Terrorism Task Force was formed to analyse the challenges posed by international terrorism. The Task Force draw on the expertise of its high-profile members, the input from specialised IBAHRI working groups and information gained during meetings with high-level officials around the world. The report focuses on key areas including: civil liberties and human rights; the use of force as a response to terrorism; preventing the financing of terrorism and international cooperation in criminal justice; and the role of the ICC.

Read more about terrorism and international law

The Task Force was formed to focus on two important questions:

• When should a state be able to regulate persons or conduct occurring outside its territory?
• How should overlaps or conflicts of jurisdiction between two or more states be resolved?

The report responds to these questions by laying out the principles governing extraterritoriality, and by providing recommendations for governments, courts, international organisations and businesses on methods for minimising costs and conflicts associated with extraterritorial exercises of jurisdiction. The report focuses in particular on competition and antitrust law, tort law, criminal law, securities law, insolvency law, bribery and corruption.

The IBA has developed a moot court manual containing five exercises to introduce students to the work of the International Criminal Court.

In these exercises, students are given an ICC judgment involving events that happened during a civil war in a fictional country. During the conflict, a large number of war crimes were committed that were so serious the ICC in The Hague wants to put people on trial for them. Student Members can gain access to these materials and guidance notes, allowing them to stage their own small scale moot court exercise.

Four IBA committees (International Commerce and Distribution, Arbitration, Litigation and Corporate M&A Law) and the European Regional Forum, created a working group of 51 specialised practitioners, advocates, arbitrators, professors, former judges, corporate counsel and transactional lawyers from 28 countries. Its aim was to give their views on the practice of the 2016 UNIDROIT Principles. What the Working Group’s members all have in common is their expertise and enthusiasm for facilitating the international practice of law.

This book, Perspectives in Practice of the UNIDROIT Principles 2016, represents the culmination of the Working Group’s efforts. The first half of the book comprises country perspective reports describing the application of the UNIDROIT Principles in their respective jurisdictions. The reader can use these reports in international cases, to get a sense of the background thinking of those involved.

The second half of the book contains compiled summaries of selected cases, consisting of a collection of over 250 summaries of court and arbitration cases where the UNIDROIT Principles were referred to or relied on either by the parties themselves or by the arbitrators or judges. The members of the IBA Working Group have compiled these summaries to illustrate the manner in which domestic courts and international tribunals apply the UNIDROIT Principles to the resolution of real disputes.

Find out more