NEWSLETTER-2019-metin

145 ARBITRATION LAW additional party must be a third party whommight also be bound by the arbitration agreement. It must be one of the signatories of the arbitra- tion agreement, or the agreement could be extended to it. Otherwise, the additional party may be excluded from the arbitration as a result of the prima facie assessment by the Court, or by the arbitral tribunal in one of its decisions. Once the RfJ is notified to the additional party, it has the same rights and obligations as any other party. It may submit an answer, raise jurisdictional objections, file claims, and request joinders of ad- ditional parties. However, the ICC Rules do not have a provision on an additional party’s right to submit counterclaims. The ICC Rules clearly stated that the additional party may make claims as per Article 8, which regulate claims between multiple parties. Another important point with regard to the joinder of an ad- ditional party is its timing. As per Article 7(1), no additional party may be joined after the confirmation or appointment of any arbitrator, unless all parties, including the additional party, otherwise so agree. This provision is a clear reflection of the ICC Rules’ approach to the importance of the parties’ participation in the constitution of the ar- bitral tribunal, which has become a very important topic, particularly following the Dutco case. The last phrase of Article 7(1) sets out that the Secretariat may establish a time limit for the submission of a RfJ. It is arguable that the Secretariat cannot know if any party is planning to submit a RfJ. This argument would be acceptable. However, the ICC Rules relate to cases where the Secretariat could understand, or one of the parties notifies that it is planning to submit a RfJ. With this phrase, the ICC Rules aim to prevent delays that can be caused by one of the parties in submitting a RfJ. Consolidation of Arbitrations – ICC Rules Article 10 Article 10 of the ICC Rules regulates consolidation of arbitra- tions. Consolidation, as referred to under the Rules, is a procedural mechanism to merge two or more pending ICC arbitrations. If the arbitrations are consolidated, one single arbitral tribunal decides on