The Vienna Rules 2021 entered into force on 1 July 2021 and apply to all proceedings commenced after 30 June 2021. The revision of the Vienna Rules was triggered by the Vienna International Arbitral Centre's (VIAC) drafting of the Vienna Rules of Investment Arbitration (VRI), which were covered in part one of this series.
The Vienna Rules 2021 do not represent a significant departure from their predecessor, the Vienna Rules 2018. Rather, the aim of the revision was to "adapt the existing rules for commercial disputes to new needs and developments in the market." In addition, the Vienna Rules now contain specific rules relating to inheritance disputes in Annex 6.