The conference will also delve into dispute resolution in the industry, covering issues such as litigation B2C, secrecy obligations and dual purpose technology, and their impact on dispute resolution proceedings. The range of procedures available to resolve disputes – such as state court procedures and international commercial arbitration – will be addressed.

The conference will be held at the ICC Secretariat in Paris and will be conducted in English and French. Simultaneous translation will be available. Space is limited, and a discount will be offered to members and non-members of ICC who enroll by 12 January.

A Directive on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters was adopted today 23 April 2008. The purpose of the Directive is to facilitate access to cross-border dispute resolution and to promote the amicable settlement of disputes by encouraging the use of mediation and by ensuring a sound relationship between mediation and judicial proceedings. The Directive is one of the follow-up actions to the Green Paper on alternative dispute resolution presented by the Commission in 2002, the other being the European Code of Conduct for Mediators established by a group of stakeholders with the assistance of the Commission and launched in July 2004.

Welcoming the adoption of this Directive, Vice-President Jacques Barrot said: “This Directive fulfils the political objective established in October 1999 by the European Council of Tampere, which – in the context of encouraging better access to justice in Europe – called for the creation of alternative, extrajudicial procedures for dispute resolution in the Member States. Mediation can provide cost-effective and quick extrajudicial resolution of disputes in civil and commercial matters through processes tailored to the needs of the parties. Agreements resulting from mediation are more likely to be complied with voluntarily and help preserve an amicable and sustainable relationship between the parties.

The Commission proposed the Directive in October 2004 (IP/04/1288). The Directive facilitates recourse to mediation by strengthening the legal guarantees accompanying it, thus giving real added value to citizens and businesses in the European Union. The key components of the Directive are as follows:

The Directive obliges Member States to encourage the training of mediators and the development of, and adherence to, voluntary codes of conduct and other effective quality control mechanisms concerning the provision of mediation services.

The Directive gives every Judge in the Community, at any stage of the proceedings, the right to suggest that the parties attend an information meeting on mediation and, if the Judge deems it appropriate, to invite the parties to have recourse to mediation.

The Directive enables parties to give an agreement concluded following mediation a status similar to that of a Court judgment by rendering it enforceable. This can be achieved, for example, by way of judicial approval or notarial certification, thereby allowing such agreements to be enforceable in the Member States under existing Community rules.

The Directive ensures that mediation takes place in an atmosphere of confidentiality and that information given or submissions made by any party during mediation cannot be used against that party in subsequent judicial proceedings if the mediation fails. This provision is essential to give parties confidence in, and to encourage them to make use of, mediation.

To this end, the Directive provides that the mediator cannot be compelled to give evidence about what took place during mediation in subsequent judicial proceedings between the parties.

The provision of the Directive on periods of limitation and prescription will ensure that parties that have recourse to mediation will not be prevented from going to court as a result of the time spent on mediation. The Directive thus preserves the parties’ access to justice should mediation not succeed.

Source: A boost for mediation in civil and commercial matters: European Parliament endorses new rules

The award followed four days of intense competition , as the team from Sao Paolo and the University of California Hastings College of Law were pitted against each other to mediate a complex business deal. The Brazilian team, made up of Gisela Ferreira Mation, Pedro Fida Fenelon Tibucheski, and Daniel Tabel Luis received a trophy, EUR 2 000 in prize money, an internship at ICC’s ADR Secretariat, and a set of legal reference books.

Every participant in this year’s competition received a year’s subscription to the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin. The awards ceremony was officiated by Guy Sebban, ICC Secretary General, Jason Fry, Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and ICC Dispute Resolution Services Director and Pierre Tercier, Chairman of the ICC International Court of Arbitration.

This year’s competition involved an even bigger roster of contenders from 30 universities in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Morocco, Singapore, Switzerland, Ukraine, the UK and the US.

Competitors acted as counsel and parties before professional mediators and used ICC’s ADR rules to solve business problems.

“What better way to educate tomorrow’s lawyers on the range mechanisms available for resolving international business disputes than through an international competition?” said Pierre Tercier.

The competition is part of ICC’s Dispute Resolution Services core mission: to educate the next generation of law professionals. Inaugurated in 2006, the annual ICC International Mediation Competition is organized by the Amicable Dispute Resolution (ADR) division. The competition brings together law schools from all over the world, giving students an opportunity to test their problem-solving skills in a mock international mediation, and to meet experts from diverse legal and professional backgrounds.

Next year, the 4th ICC International Mediation Competition takes place 12 to 16 February.

For more information contact:

Ms Emilie ROMEO
Project Coordinator
Email: iccmediationcompetition(AT)iccwbo.org

Negotiation: The most common form of dispute resolution is negotiation. By this means alone nearly all disputes are solved. If negotiations fail, it is necessary to seek the assistance of a neutral third party or several neutral third parties to facilitate a solution.

Mr. Christopher To, Secretary General of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC, video:

Arbitration: For an arbitration to take place, the disputing parties must agree to take their dispute to arbitration. In practice, this agreement is often made before the dispute arises and is included as a clause in their commercial contract. In signing a contract with an arbitration clause, the parties are agreeing that their dispute will not be heard by a court but by a private individual or a panel of several private individuals. If parties have agreed to arbitration, they will generally have to go to arbitration rather than court as the courts will normally refuse to hear their case by staying it to force the reluctant party to honour their agreement to arbitrate.

Arbitration is a legal process which results in an award being issued by the arbitrator or arbitrators. Arbitration awards are final and binding on the parties and can only be challenged in very exceptional circumstances. An award has a status very like a court judgment and is enforceable in a very similar manner. Arbitration awards made in Hong Kong are enforceable through the courts of most of the world’s trading nations.

Litigation: In the absence of an arbitration agreement or other consensual means of dispute resolution, the parties may commence proceedings in the courts. Litigation in Hong Kong courts is handled very competently. The decision of the Court of First Instance is not, however, final as an aggrieved party has an automatic right of appeal to the Court of Appeal and if the amount in dispute exceeds HK$1,000,000, they have an automatic right of appeal from the Court of Appeal to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.

Online Arbitration in Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC places great emphasis to providing online dispute resolution services in a wide variety of areas including the areas of intellectual property and information technology. Thus it is fitting that the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC has set as one of its goals to be one of the leaders among online dispute resolution providers in regard to domain names and E-Commerce.

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC provides online dispute resolution services in the following ways:-

Dispute Resolution Service for Domain Names:

1. Dispute Resolution for gTLDs (for example: .com, .net and .org etc) – (UDRP)
As a partner in and manager of the Hong Kong Office of in the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre which is one of the four domain name dispute resolution providers approved by the Internet Corporation for the Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to provide domain name dispute resolution services in regard to generic top level domain names (gTLDs) such as .com, .net and .org. Disputes in regard to gTLDs are carried out under the Uniform Domain Name Policy (UDRP) issued by ICANN. Dispute Resolution for gTLDs

2. Dispute Resolution for ccTLDs (for example: .hk, .cn , .pw and .ph etc)
a. The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC is the sole provider of dispute resolution services in regards to .hk domain names, having been appointed for such purpose by the Hong Kong Domain Name Registration Company Limited (HKDNR). Mandatory final and binding arbitration is the method chosen by HKDNR for the purpose of resolving disputes in regards to .hk domain names. Dispute Resolution for .hk
b. The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC has been appointed by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) to resolve .cn domain name disputes. Dispute Resolution for .cn
c.The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC was appointed by the .pw Registry Corporation as the sole .pw Domain Name Dispute Resolution Service Provider. Dispute Resolution for .pw
d.The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC was recently appointed by the .dotPH – the Official Domain Name Registry for Philippines to resolve .ph domain name disputes. Dispute Resolution for .ph

3. DotAsia Sunrise Challenge Policy.

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) is the global official dispute resolution provider to handle disputes and challenges arising out of the launch of the .Asia domain.

Dispute Resolution for Registrar Transfer (TDRP)

The ADNDRC has started to handle Registrar Transfer Disputes under the ICANN Registrar Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy since 11 December 2004. Dispute Resolution for Registrar Transfer Disputes.

Dispute Resolution for Internet Keyword

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC has been appointed by the CNNIC as a provider to handle Internet Keyword Dispute under CNNIC’s Internet Keyword Dispute Resolution Policy. Dispute Resolution for Internet Keyword Dispute.

Dispute Resolution for E-Commerce – HKIAC Webtrust Programme

Webtrust Programme is a third party arbitration framework for the use and adoption by on-line merchants to handle consumer disputes on-line. It is jointly promulgated by the HKIAC and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accounts in January 2002. The HKIAC is the administrative organisation of that programme, responsible for administering the Programme and appointing of arbitrator. The HKIAC Electronic Transaction Arbitration Rules was adopted as the rules for the arbitration process of that programme.

In order to facilitate the efficient and speedy disposition of domain name disputes, the HKIAC, with technology powered and supported by the Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd., has developed a proprietary on-line dispute resolution system for gTLD and hkTLD, which permits parties to conduct their domain name dispute cases by means of a sophisticated fully on-line web-based system.

More information: Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre HKIAC.