This Practice Note considers the use of the International Bar Association (IBA) rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration (the IBA Rules) in international arbitration.

The IBA Rules are routinely adopted, in whole or in part, in international arbitration (commercial and investment) to manage factual and expert evidence, in particular where parties are from different legal cultures, typically common law and civil law.

The IBA Rules contain a mixture of provisions, some closer to common law systems (eg on the taking of witness evidence) and some closer to civil law systems (eg on document production requests). Other areas offer a compromise between the two approaches.

The IBA Rules are supplemented by detailed commentary published by the IBA, which provides useful additional information for practitioners, and which is referred to in this Practice Note.

The current version of the IBA Rules was adopted by resolution of the IBA Council on 17 December 2020. Where parties have agreed to apply the IBA Rules (in whole or in part),