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John
Merrett |
A
record number of more than 590 cases
came before the ICC International Court
of Arbitration in 2002. In December
alone, the Court registered more than
80 new cases, an all-time record for
a single month.
By the end of 2003, ICC arbitrators
should be able to conduct much of their
work online, using a secure facility
for the exchange of documents known
as Netcase. Each case will have its
own Intranet protected by a Firewall,
on which arbitrators and the parties
may draft, exchange and store documents.
However, this will not be arbitration
in cyberspace. Arbitrators and parties
may still need to meet in person. Choosing
the place of arbitration will remain
as important as ever.
From the beginning of 2003, revised
ICC Rules for Expertise came into force,
governing a key ICC dispute resolution
service, the International Centre for
Expertise. The new rules are now more
flexible and user-friendly, leaving
parties free to decide the extent of
their needs.
The Centre offers the following services:
• Proposal of an expert - leaving
it to those who make the request to
accept or reject the proposal
• Appointment of an expert, the
Centre names an expert suitable for
the case, whom parties to a dispute
must accept
• Administration of expertise
proceedings
This was the first full year of operations
for ICC ADR, encompassing a range of
techniques for the amicable settlement
of business disputes, among them mediation,
neutral evaluation and mini-trials.
The essential element common to all
these techniques is the willingness
of the parties voluntarily to accept
a settlement on the basis of consensus.
This is in contrast to arbitration,
which culminates in a binding award.
ADR cases handled during 2002 had amounts
at stake ranging from US $30,000 to
$40 million. Applications for ADR were
received from Europe, the United States,
Latin America and the Middle East. The
disputes were as varied as the sums
involved. They included differences
over the supply of steel pipes, the
opening of an investment account, the
liquidation of a bank, interpretation
of a shareholders’ agreement,
insurance for a film and construction
of a shopping centre.
As in previous years, John Merrett,
ICC United Kingdom’s arbitration
consultant, nominated some 35 arbitrators
to the ICC Court for appointment in
particular cases. Since ICC United Kingdom
itself consists of several hundred members,
it has delegated all matters relating
to arbitration in the UK (and sometimes
other Commonwealth countries) to John
Merrett. He is a solicitor who retired
from the position of Senior Legal Adviser
in the Royal Dutch/Shell Group in 1996.
Apart from ICC United Kingdom, he holds
positions with another substantial arbitration
scheme and with a government body.
He is a member of the Council of Management
of the British Institute of Comparative
Law and of the International Committee
of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
He reports to the ICC United Kingdom
Arbitration and ADR Group consisting
of two judges and 14 key arbitrators,
neutrals and counsel.
With the growing workload of the ICC
Commission on Arbitration and its sub-groups,
the 22 UK members of the Commission
now meet regularly as a Committee, in
Paris and in London. There are also
several UK members of working parties
and task forces of the Commission who
are contributing on specialist subjects. |
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