Constitution of the Commission - ICSID Convention Conciliation (2022)

The Commission must be constituted as soon as possible after registration of a Request for conciliation. It is constituted on the date the Secretary-General notifies the parties that all conciliators have accepted their appointments and signed their declarations (Conciliation Rule 18).

The time to constitute the Commission varies depending on the time it takes to determine the number of conciliators and the method of their appointment and to select and appoint the members of the Commission. However, if a party asks ICSID to appoint a conciliator, ICSID endeavors to complete the appointment within 30 days of the request.

Effects of the Commission’s Constitution

Once a Commission is constituted:

  • A member of the ICSID Secretariat (legal counsel) is designated to serve as Secretary of the Commission
  • ICSID sends the request for conciliation and all correspondence between ICSID and the parties to the members of the Commission
  • The parties are invited to simultaneously file initial written statements 30 days after the constitution of the Commission (Conciliation Rule 30(1))
  • The first session of the Commission must be held within 60 days from the date of constitution, unless the parties agree otherwise (Conciliation Rule 31(3)). The Secretary of the Commission will contact the parties to enquire about their availability for the session
  • The Secretary of the Commission will ask the parties to make an advance payment to cover the costs of the conciliation (Administrative and Financial Regulation 15(1)(b)). The amount of this advance will vary depending on the number of conciliators and the anticipated expenses in the subsequent phase of the proceeding. The parties may expect an advance in the order of US$50,000-100,000 per party. The amount that was advanced by the claimant upon Registration of the Request will be considered as partial payment of its share of this payment (Administrative and Financial Regulation 15(1)(a))
  • An administrative charge (US$42,000 under the current Schedule of Fees) is levied upon the registration of the Request for conciliation, divided equally between the parties and deducted from the parties’ advances on an annual basis, on the anniversary of the date of the registration of the Request