JCAA’s Amended Expedited Arbitration Procedures, Reduced Administrative Fees & New Appointing Rules

A. Introduction

The Japan Commercial Arbitration Association (“JCAA”) recently amended the expedited arbitration procedures in its Commercial Arbitration Rules and Interactive Arbitration Rules to expand the scope of their application. The new rules apply to cases filed on or after July 1, 2021. For cases commenced before such date, parties may agree to apply the new rules to their subsequent proceedings. The JCAA also reduced the minimum amount of its administrative fees for the benefit of parties who wish to resolve small value claims using its services. Moreover, the JCAA launched a new set of Appointing Authority Rules effective from July 1, 2021 to fill a vacuum concerning ad hoc arbitration cases.

This article will first describe the key changes to the expedited procedures of the Commercial Arbitration Rules (which changes were similarly reflected in the corresponding provisions of the Interactive Arbitration Rules). Thereafter, the amendments to the administrative fees of the JCAA and the new Appointing Authority Rules will be discussed.

B. Broader and More Flexible Application of the Expedited Arbitration Procedures

Below are the key changes to the Commercial Arbitration Rules.

Higher threshold amount

The amount in dispute for the new expedited procedures to automatically apply has been increased from JPY 50 million to JPY 300 million (approximately, USD 2.73 million) thereby expanding the application of such procedures (art. 84.1(a)). Notably, almost half of the cases administered by the JCAA from 2011 to 2020 (i.e., 47.4%) fell within this higher threshold amount. This amendment is in line with the recent trend of amendments being made to the arbitration rules of other arbitral institutions.

​Option to opt out at any time. 

The parties can opt out of the expedited procedures upon written notice to the JCAA at any time, e.g., even after JCAA’s notice of the application of the said procedures (arts. 84.3(a) and 85.1(a)). Before the amendment, the parties had to notify the JCAA of their agreement not to submit the dispute to such procedures within two weeks from the respondent’s receipt of the notice of the request for arbitration. Removing such time limit now offers more flexibility to the parties to explore these procedures.

Broader JCAA discretion to discontinue expedited procedures.

Apart from the above opt-out option, the JCAA now has the discretion (a) to not apply the expedited procedures if, before the constitution of the tribunal, the JCAA finds that the parties’ arbitration agreement has provisions that are contrary thereto or other circumstances exist that make such procedures clearly inappropriate (art. 84.3(b)), or (b) where such procedures are no longer appropriate given the complexity of the case (even after JCAA’s notice of the application of such procedures), to terminate the said procedures and move the case to ordinary arbitration procedures after consulting the tribunal and the parties (art. 85.1(b)).



Certain ordinary arbitration procedures to apply. Due to the higher threshold amount, articles 85 and 86 were removed to make the following ordinary arbitration procedures apply: (a) the period to file counterclaims and/or raise set-off defenses (i.e., four weeks, and not two weeks, from the respondent’s receipt of the notice of the request for arbitration) (arts. 19 and 20); and (b) amendments, which may be done with the tribunal’s permission (art. 21).

Period to render an award. This period now depends on the amount of the dispute. It will be six months from the constitution of the tribunal where the amount is more than JPY 50 million, but it will still be three months for smaller disputes worth JPY 50 million or less (arts. 88.1 and 88.2). Only the JCAA, and not the tribunal, can extend the applicable period in exceptional circumstances (art. 89).

Documents only and optional hearings. The expedited procedures will still generally be conducted as a documents-only procedure unless the tribunal decides to hold a hearing after consulting and obtaining the parties’ agreement (art. 87.1). For hearings, the tribunal must now use videoconferencing or other appropriate means, and keep such hearings as short as possible (art. 87.2). This will prompt tribunals to be more innovative in conducting these procedures.... (Please visit following link to read the rest of this article https://www.ohebashi.com/jp/newsletter/NL_en_2021autumn_Marose_Hosokawa.pdf )