International Arbitration Newsletter - March 2020 | Institutional and Other News

Institutional News

What are the major arbitral institutions doing in relation to the coronavirus?

Please find below a summarised list of some of the measures adopted by relevant arbitration institutions around the world in light of COVID-19:

1. CAM (Camera Arbitrale di Milano) has suspended all procedures until 5 April 2020.
        
   For more information: https://www.camera-arbitrale.it/it/news/arbitrato-sospensioni-dei-termini.php?id=930.
2. ACICA (Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration) has issued a statement explaining a prevention protocol for Court employees and visitors in order to avoid infection.
                
   For more information: https://acica.org.au/2020/03/16/australian-disputes-centre-covid-19-coronavirus-precautionary-protocol/.
3. CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) has suspended all hearings until 16 may 2020.
         
   For more information: https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2020/03/14/report-manchester-citys-uefa-ban-appeal-doubtful-as-cas-deals-with-coronavirus/.
4. HKIAC (Hong Kong International Arbitration Court) recommends the holding of what they call “e-hearings” or “virtual hearings”.
        
   For more information: https://www.hkiac.org/our-services/Facilities and https://www.hkiac.org/content/e-hearings-hkiac.
5. LCIA (London Court of International Arbitration) has issued a statement regarding new or pending arbitration proceedings where it urges parties to communicate with the court via e-mail or through the on-line filing system.
        
   For more information: https://www.lcia.org/lcia-services-update-covid-19.aspx.
6. ICC (International Chamber of Commerce): has issued a statement regarding new or pending arbitration proceedings where it confirms that (i) all offices of the Secretariat of the ICC Court and the ICC ADR Centre are operational, (ii) staff members are healthy and working remotely via mobile posts (iii) hearings and other meetings scheduled to take place at the ICC Hearing Centre in Paris until 13 April 2020 have been postponed or cancelled and (iv) meetings scheduled to take place at ICC´s offices worldwide are being conducted virtually.
         
   For more information: https://iccwbo.org/media-wall/news-speeches/covid-19-urgent-communication-to-drs-users-arbitrators-and-other-neutrals/ )
7. SCC (Stockholm Chamber of Commerce) has cancelled all activities that involve a Court employee traveling abroad.
              
   For more information: https://sccinstitute.com/about-the-scc/event-calendar/information-about-the-current-scc-travel-policy/)
8. SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre) has postponed many of the scheduled activities of the Court and requires all parties, counsel, witnesses and other visitors to identify their country of origin, transit and destinantion before planning a visit.
        
   For more information: https://www.siac.org.sg/ and https://www.siac.org.sg/images/stories/press_release/2020/ANNOUNCEMENT%20COVID-19%20Information%20for%20SIAC%20Users_English.pdf.

Arbitral institutions in Spain:

1. CAM (Corte de Arbitraje de Madrid) has only postponed hearings until 31 March 2020 but insists that the rest of the Court’s procedures and activities continue as scheduled.
        
   For more information: http://arbitramadrid.com/detalle_noticia/-/asset_publisher/3HQZrygJgpw3/content/medidas-relacionadas-con-el-covid-19.
10. CEA (Corte Española de Arbitraje) has suspended all procedural terms in the existing proceedings they administer.
         
    For more information: http://www.cearbitraje.com/index.html.
11. CIMA (Corte Civil y Mercantil de Arbitraje) has also suspended all procedural terms in the existing proceedings they administer.
              
    For more information: http://arbitrajecima.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/MEDIDAS-ADOPTADAS-POR-CIMA-ESTADO-DE-ALARMA.pdf.
     
11. TAB (Tribunal Arbitral de Barcelona) has also suspended all procedural terms.
                  
    For more information: https://tab.es/PDF/Noticias/ACUERDO-CORVID.pdf.

Team News

Speaking engagements

Due to the international travel restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 virus events at which members of the Garrigues International Arbitration team were due to speak at and participate in have been cancelled in Austria, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Appointments

• Partner Monica van der Schraft (Santiago de Chile) to be the first Chilean woman to preside an ICC arbitration panel.
• Partner Joe Tirado (London) has been appointed to the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) panel of mediators. The OGA launched a year-long mediation pilot which aims to test the extent to which mediation can assist in resolving disputes involving licences in the UK Continental Shelf.