Exhibit conventions in international arbitration

Where the conventions come from

None of the major institutional rules prescribes exhibit prefixes. What the rules do is require the tribunal to organise the procedure early, and the numbering system is settled at that stage:

• ICC Rules 2021, Article 24: a case management conference when the Terms of Reference are drawn up or as soon as possible thereafter, and a procedural timetable during or following it.
• ICSID Arbitration Rules 2022: a first session (Rule 29); ICSID’s model Procedural Order No. 1, issued under Rules 27 and 29, contains the exhibit numbering.
• LCIA Rules 2020, Article 14.3: the parties and the tribunal make contact no later than 21 days after notification of the tribunal’s formation.
• SIAC and HKIAC: tribunals commonly issue a first procedural order covering the same ground.

The ICC Commission’s report on controlling time and costs (2018, para 49) recommends a coherent system for numbering documents from the outset, beginning with the Request for Arbitration and the Answer, and settling the system for the rest of the case at the first case management conference. In practice the conventions below are commonly fixed in Procedural Order No. 1. Variations are normal, so read the order before you number the first exhibit.

The standard prefixes

Witness statements and expert reports run in their own series, separate from the documentary exhibits, followed by a number and usually the witness’s name. A second statement by the same witness is a new document: ICSID’s naming annex marks it “[Second Statement]” in the file name.

Even ICSID’s own model order is not uniform: its text uses CL- and RL-, while an index example in its naming annex reads RLA-. Agree one form with the other side and keep to it.

Rules commonly fixed in Procedural Order No. 1

• Consecutive numbering throughout the proceeding: the Reply continues where the Memorial stopped (ICSID model PO1 § 16.5.2; PCA 2020-11 para 5.5).
• Number on the document: on its first page and in its file name (ICSID § 16.5.2).
• Several documents, one exhibit: documents on the same subject may form one exhibit, with its pages numbered consecutively (ICSID § 16.5.3).
• Page numbering within exhibits: for example C-1_001, C-1_002 (PCA 2020-11 para 5.5).
• File once: each document is filed only once, with the pleading (ICSID § 16.7).
• Language suffix: -ENG, -SPA, -FR in file names where more than one language is in play (ICSID Annex A).
• Indexes: a cumulative index of all supporting documents with each pleading (ICSID § 13.3) and a consolidated hyperlinked index at the end of the written phase (§ 13.4).
• Authenticity: copies are assumed authentic unless a party objects (ICSID § 16.6).

Memorial on the Merits-ENG.pdf
C-0001-ENG.pdf … C-0087-SPA.pdf
CL-0001-ENG.pdf … CL-0034-FR.pdf
Witness Statement-Maria Jones-Memorial on the Merits-ENG.pdf
Expert Report-Lucia Smith-Valuation-Memorial on the Merits-ENG.pdf
MJ-0001.pdf   (exhibit to the Jones statement)

Pleadings and their names

Under Rule 30 of the ICSID Arbitration Rules 2022 the parties file a memorial and a counter-memorial and, unless they agree otherwise, a reply and a rejoinder, the last two limited to responding to the previous submission and to facts that are new or could not have been known earlier. ICC proceedings start with the Request for Arbitration (Article 4) and the Answer (Article 5), followed by whatever written submissions the procedural timetable sets. Under the UNCITRAL Rules the first rounds are the statement of claim and the statement of defence (Articles 20 and 21).

Number the exhibits filed with the Request and the Answer in the series you will use for the rest of the case. Renumbering later breaks every citation already made, in the submissions and in the tribunal’s notes.

Document production: IBA Rules and Redfern schedules

Tribunals are often guided, though not bound, by the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence (2020), as in ICSID Case No. ARB/23/49 (Procedural Order No. 1 of 14 June 2024, § 16.1). Under Article 3.3 a Request to Produce must describe each document sufficiently to identify it, or a narrow and specific category of documents reasonably believed to exist; state how the documents are relevant to the case and material to its outcome; and state that they are not in the requesting party’s possession, custody or control (or why producing them would be unreasonably burdensome for it) and why it assumes the other party has them. Objections must rest on Article 9.2 or 9.3 or on a failure to meet Article 3.3 (Article 3.5); the tribunal rules under Article 3.7. Documents produced in response need not be translated (Article 3.12(d)).

Requests, objections and rulings are exchanged in a table. The ICC report (para 52) describes the Redfern Schedule with four columns; tribunals sometimes add a column for the requesting party’s reply, a layout often called a Stern schedule, as in Annex C to that order.

Produced documents are not part of the record until a party files them as exhibits (for example ICSID ARB/23/49, PO1 § 16.6; PCA 2020-11, PO1 para 4.3). Only then do they receive a C- or R- number.

Avoiding numbering problems

• Mirror the order’s exact format: prefix, hyphen, number of digits.
• Never reuse a number. If an exhibit is withdrawn, leave the gap and note it in the index.
• Do not renumber filed exhibits; a new document takes the next free number.
• Cite the other side’s exhibits under their numbers: R-15 stays R-15 in your brief.
• Zero-pad numbers (C-0041) so files sort correctly.
• Keep exhibits to witness statements and expert reports distinct from the party series, unless the order says otherwise.

For a step-by-step method, see how to number exhibits; for the index that accompanies each filing, the exhibit list template.