Arbitration

Early-birds get best rate to attend ICC Institute’s Annual Conference

  • 19 October 2016
Proposal of experts and neutrals

The International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) Institute of World Business Law is holding its 36th Annual Conference on 1 December 2016 in Paris. Those wishing to participate can take advantage of a special discount, available only until this Friday, 21 October 2016.

The ICC Institute of World Business Law, ICC’s think-tank working closely with the ICC International Court of Arbitration, provides legal experts with an occasion to deliberate on topical issues and reflects on new practices in international arbitration. This year, lawyers, arbitrators, judges, academics, corporate counsel and compliance officers, all involved in international trade and dispute resolution, will convene under the theme: Dispute prevention and settlement through expert determination and Dispute Boards.

Expert determination

The morning session will kick off with co-chair of the conference and law professor, Filip De Ly, as he takes participants through a detailed overview of expert determination. Commenting on his participation, Mr De Ly said: “Business people and attorneys often insufficiently realise that technical accounting or valuation issues may be settled by means of expert de-termination. In our morning panel, leading specialists will guide participants through the pro-spects and pitfalls of these alternative forms of dispute resolution and their relationship with arbitration.”

The session will continue by exploring civil and common law approaches to the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedure. With its use in various contexts ranging from construc-tion to merger and acquisition disputes, participants will be able to provide their own input as to the advantages and challenges of ADR as a dispute prevention and settlement technique.

The ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR replaced the ICC ADR Rules with three new sets of rules officially launched in February 2015. They were the Proposal of Experts and Neutrals, the Appointment of Experts and Neutrals and the Administration of Expertise Pro-ceedings. During the morning session, manager of the ICC International Centre for ADR Alina Leoveanu will break down each of these relatively recent procedures to give participants a thorough understanding of what each provides and how best to use them.

Dispute Boards

While Dispute Boards have been around for some time, their benefits all too often go unrecognised. The afternoon session will begin by discussing the value of the standing bodies and their ability to address disagreements before they become full-blown disputes. Co-chair of the conference and independent arbitrator Paul Gelinas, is to highlight this dispute resolution mechanism. When asked about his session, Mr Gelinas said: “It has been structured so as to set in perspective the underpinnings of its attractiveness to an ever growing number of followers.”

The afternoon panel of speakers will take participants through the history of Dispute Boards and how they are used all over the world; provide an update on the revised 2015 ICC Dispute Board Rules; explain how to settle disputes under the FIDIC forms of contracts; provide insider tips on how to successfully balance contract terms and governing the law in decision-making processes and cover other pertinent topics.

Additional information

The conference will be held in English and French with simultaneous interpretation. Participants are eligible for CPD and CLE credits, as well as CNB hours for the Paris Bar. In principle, the proceedings will be published in the “Dossiers of the Institute” series. A copy of the publication will be sent to all participants.

To register or to learn more about the 36th Annual Meeting of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, please visit our information page. For questions, please email the ICC Training and Conference team.