In institutional arbitration the arbitration agreement refers to arbitration rules which are promulgated and administered by an arbitration institution, such as the ICC Rules of Arbitration, the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration or ICDR Rules of the American Arbitration Association. In that case the arbitration is conducted under the auspices of the institution.

When parties agree to arbitrate but do not refer to institutional arbitration rules, they have an ad hoc arbitration clause. The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) developed the UNCITRAL arbitration rules, a widely used set of rules to govern ad hoc arbitrations. Parties may refer to them in the arbitration clause or they may subsequently be adopted at the outset of arbitral proceedings. There is generally no institutional supervision over ad hoc arbitrations.

Knowing what institutional rules to select for the arbitration requires knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of the different arbitration rules on the market. Landolt & Koch has extensive experience with a wide variety of arbitral rules and is able to advise our clients on the choice of the most appropriate rules for their contract and the type of dispute they may face.