Annual Caseload Reports

The total number of cases filed before CRCICA until 31 December 2020 reached 1452 cases. In 2020, 67 new cases were filed, compared to 82 cases in 2019. Of the 67 cases filed this year, 5 related to ad hoc proceedings, 1 related to a request to have the Centre as an appointing authority and the rest related to dispute under the CRCICA Rules. Most notably, 2020 has witnessed a high number of multiparty proceedings, representing 38% of cases, compared to 11% of cases registered in 2019. Further, 1 mediation case was registered in 2020 compared to 3 in 2019.

The Centre’s caseload during 2020 involved disputes relating to various sectors including: Construction, Corporate Restructuring, Tourism & Hospitality, Real Estate Development, Media & Entertainment, Oil & Gas, Mining and Telecommunications.

Disputes arising from the Construction Sector ranked on top with 32% of the total number of cases, compared to nearly 20% of the cases in 2019. Unlike in 2019, these were followed by disputes arising from Corporate Restructuring agreements, which made up nearly 16.5% of the total number of cases. Tourism & Hospitality disputes ranked third in 2020, representing 13.5% of the total number of cases. Disputes arising from Real Estate Development agreements and Oil & Gas agreements were tied with 6% of the cases each, closely followed by Media & Entertainment disputes at 4.5% of the total number of cases.

The parties to disputes included 28 Non-Egyptian parties. Parties from the United Kingdom ranked at the top of Non-Egyptian parties referring their disputes to the Centre, with 5 parties, followed by parties from Yemen with 4 Parties, and then parties from Italy and Malta, with 3 parties and 2 parties respectively. There were also parties from Bahrain, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Iraq, Kuwait, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It is worth noting that these conservative figures do not include Egyptian companies owned or ultimately controlled by non-Egyptian shareholders.

2020 also witnessed the appointment of 26 Non-Egyptian arbitrators, with the number of arbitrators coming from Canada and France coming at the top, followed by arbitrators coming from Lebanon, the United Kingdom, Tanzania, the United States of America and Sudan. There were also arbitrators from Italy, Tunisia, Australia, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria.

In 2017, the CRCICA signed the Pledge for Equal Representation in Arbitration, according to which the CRCICA, having due regard to the circumstances of the relevant case, implemented a gender diversity policy when acting as an appointing authority in addition to its implementation of a regional and age diversity policy.

During 2020, 8 female arbitrators were appointed, representing 5% of appointments, compared to 9 female arbitrators in cases registered in 2019. Moreover, 12 arbitrators under 40 were appointed in 2020, representing 7.5% of appointments, compared to 12 arbitrators under 40 appointed in cases registered in 2019.

These numbers and percentages, though both still modest, show a tendency to increase female appointments by the CRCICA as well as by parties and co-arbitrators.

Of the 159 arbitrators appointed in 2020, only 23 were appointed by the Centre, representing just over 14% of all appointments. In exercising its power as appointing authority, the Centre took the opportunity to appoint 9 non-Egyptian arbitrators, as well as 1 female arbitrator and 4 arbitrators under 40.

In 2020, 36 arbitration cases were conducted in Arabic, (i.e. 54%), whereas 31 cases, (i.e. 46%), were conducted in English. The French version of the CRCICA Rules has been issued on 31 March 2017.

During 2020, cases where the sum in dispute does not exceed USD 1million constituted nearly half of the Centre’s caseload. These were followed by cases where the sum in dispute ranges between USD 1million and USD 2million and cases where the sum in dispute ranges between USD 5million and USD 10 million.

The average value of the sums in dispute in cases registered in 2020 amounted to USD 10,296,930. Compared to 2017, 2020 witnessed a 42% relative increase in disputes where the sum in dispute exceeds USD 10million, with a 153% relative increase in disputes where the sum in dispute exceeds USD 50million.

PHYSICAL & REMOTE HEARINGS IN 2020:

Throughout this year, 78 hearings took place using CRCICA’s hearing facilities. 66 of the hearings related to cases brought under the CRCICA Arbitration Rules, 7 hearings related to ad hoc cases administered by CRCICA, 2 hearings related to ICC proceedings, 2 hearings related to ICSID proceedings and 1 hearing related to PCA proceedings.

Of the 78 hearings that took place using CRCICA’s hearing facilities, 11 were held entirely via videoconference, 2 were held entirely via teleconference, 10 were held with partial remote and partial in-person attendance and the remaining 55 hearings were held with in-person attendance of a limited number of people, in compliance with the Centre’s social distancing guidelines.

The total number of cases filed before CRCICA until 31 December 2019 reached 1385 cases. In 2019, 82 new cases were filed, compared to 77 and 65 in 2018 and 2017 respectively. This is the second highest number of registered cases in CRCICA’s history. Further, 3 mediation cases were registered in 2019 compared to 2 in 2018.

The Centre’s caseload during 2019 involved disputes relating to various sectors including: Oil & Gas, Construction, Real Estate Development, Retail, Media & Entertainment, Tourism & Hospitality, Pharmaceutical, IT & Telecommunications, International Sale of Goods and Public Private Partnership.

Disputes arising from the Oil & Gas Sector ranked on top with 30% of the total number of cases, compared to 12% of the cases in 2018. Unlike in 2018, these were followed by disputes arising from the Construction Sector, which made up nearly 20% of the total number of cases. Real Estate Development cases and Retail related disputes tied for third in 2019, representing nearly 10% of disputes each, closely followed by disputes arising out of Tourism & Hospitality and those relating to Media & Entertainment and the Pharmaceutical Industry.

The parties to disputes included 18 Non-Egyptian parties. Parties from China and the UK tied at the top of Non-Egyptian parties referring their disputes to the Centre, with 4 parties each, followed by parties from the UAE. There were also parties from Germany, India, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. It is worth noting that these conservative figures do not include Egyptian companies owned or ultimately controlled by non-Egyptian shareholders.

2018 also witnessed the appointment of 20 Non-Egyptian arbitrators, with the number of arbitrators coming from the US coming at the top, followed by arbitrators coming from Lebanon, France, Bahrain and UK. There were also arbitrators from Canada, Jordan, Sudan, Tunisia and UAE.

In 2017, the CRCICA signed the Pledge for Equal Representation in Arbitration, according to which the CRCICA, having due regard to the circumstances of the relevant case, implemented a gender diversity policy when acting as an appointing authority in addition to its implementation of a regional and age diversity policy.

During 2019, 9 female arbitrators were appointed, representing 5% of appointments, compared to 11 female arbitrators in cases registered in 2018. Moreover, 18 arbitrators under 40 were appointed in 2019, representing 10% of appointments, compared to 13 arbitrators under 40 appointed in cases registered in 2018.

These numbers and percentages, though both still modest, show a tendency to increase female appointments by the CRCICA as well as by parties and co-arbitrators.

Of the 175 arbitrators appointed in 2019, only 19 were appointed by the Centre, representing just under 11% of all appointments. In exercising its power as appointing authority, the Centre took the opportunity to appoint 4 non-Egyptian arbitrators, as well as 1 female arbitrator and 2 arbitrators under 40.

During 2019, parties brought challenges against 14 arbitrators. All 10 challenges that were brought before an ad hoc tripartite committee formed by members of the advisory committee were rejected. As for the remaining 4 challenges, they were not brought before an ad hoc tripartite committee for various reasons, including the resignation of the challenged arbitrator and the amicable settlement of the arbitration case before the challenge was decided by the Tripartite Committee.

In 2019, 62 arbitration cases were conducted in Arabic, (i.e. 76%), whereas 20, (i.e. 24%), were conducted in English. The French version of the CRCICA Rules has been issued on 31 March 2017.

The total number of mediations filed before CRCICA until 31 December 2019 reached 14 cases. In 2019, 3 new cases were filed, compared to 2 cases filed in 2018.

The first case was based on a multi-tiered dispute resolution clause, which required the parties to participate in mediation under CRCICA Rules prior to initiating arbitral proceedings. The dispute involved a consultancy agreement between a German consulting firm and an Egyptian manufacturer. The mediation process ended with a settlement being reached by the parties.

The second case was based on another multi-tiered dispute resolution clause, one which required parties to participate in mediation generally prior to initiating arbitral proceedings. The dispute involved a commercial agency agreement between a Swiss company and an Egyptian agent.

The third case was based on a multi-tiered dispute resolution clause, which required the parties to participate in mediation under CRCICA Rules prior to initiating arbitral proceedings. The dispute involved a consultancy agreement between an Egyptian real estate developer and an Egyptian consulting firm.

HEARINGS IN 2019

Throughout this year 116 hearings took place at CRCICA’s hearing facilities. 103 of the hearings related to cases brought under the CRCICA Arbitration Rules, 7 hearings related to ad hoc cases administered by CRCICA, and 2 hearings related to cases brought under the ICC Rules. There was also a hearing related to a mediation case under CRCICA Mediation Rules and 1 hearing related to an investment case under the UNCITRAL Rules, brought by an investor against an Arab state.

CRCICA hosted several witnesses to testify remotely to the ICC in Paris, using live feed of proceedings (i.e. video conferencing to visualize the hearing room), real time viewer (i.e. live testimony immediately appears on your computer screen as the court reporter writes real-time), and using Opus 2 Magnum electronic bundle solution and by printing and organizing witness’ binders. Of the 103 hearings related to cases brought under CRCICA Arbitration Rules, 2 procedural hearings were conducted via conference call.

The total number of cases filed before CRCICA until 31 December
2018 reached 1303 cases. In 2018, 77 new cases were filed, compared to 65 in
2017. Further, 2 mediation cases were registered in 2018 compared to a single
one in 2017.

The Centre’s caseload during 2018 involved disputes relating to
various sectors including: Oil & Gas, Construction, Media &
Entertainment, Sports, Real Estate Development, Agriculture and Tourism.

Disputes arising from the Construction Sector, including
construction contracts, contracts for works and utility supply agreements,
ranked on top with nearly 25% of the total number of cases, compared to 32% of
the cases in 2017. As in 2017, these were followed by disputes arising out of
lease agreements, which made up nearly 16% of the total number of cases. Oil
& Gas related disputes in 2018 ranked third, representing nearly 12% of
disputes, closely followed by disputes arising out of purchase agreements and
those relating to Hotel Management and Sports.

The parties to disputes included 28 Non-Egyptian parties. Parties
from the USA ranked on top of Non-Egyptian parties referring their disputes to
the Centre, with 9 US parties, followed by parties from Saudi Arabia and then
parties from Lebanon and Russia. There were also parties from Italy, Belgium,
China, Germany, Kuwait, Netherlands, Sudan and the UK. It is worth noting that
these conservative figures do not include Egyptian companies owned or ultimately
controlled by non-Egyptian shareholders.

2018 also witnessed the appointment of 17 Non-Egyptian arbitrators,
with the number of arbitrators coming from the UK, Lebanon and Sudan coming at
the top. There were also arbitrators from Austria, Canada, France, Jordan,
Tunisia and the USA.

In 2017, the CRCICA signed the Pledge for Equal Representation in
Arbitration, according to which the CRCICA implemented a gender diversity
policy when acting as an appointing authority in addition to its implementation
of a regional and age diversity policy.

In this regard, as of 2017 the CRCICA began including in its
caseload reports statistics, data, and information on the number and percentage
of female arbitrators, whether appointed by the Centre or by the parties. For
the cases registered in 2018, 11 female arbitrators were appointed, compared to
9 female arbitrators cases registered in 2017.

These numbers and percentages, though both still modest, show a
tendency to increase female appointments by the CRCICA as well as by parties
and co-arbitrators. In fact, 2018 saw the composition of an all-female
tribunal. Similarly, in a case where both co-arbitrators were male, their
chosen presiding arbitrator was a woman.

There were also 13 arbitrators aged under 40 appointed during 2018
as co-arbitrators as well as sole arbitrators. A number of the arbitrators
under 40 were also female arbitrators as well.

In implementation of CRCICA’s regional diversity policy, 2
arbitrators from Tunisia and Sudan were appointed in cases registered in 2018
where the language of arbitration was Arabic, compared to 2 arbitrators from
Nigeria and Sudan appointed by the CRCICA in 2017 in cases where the language
of arbitration was English and Arabic respectively.

In 2018, 54 arbitration cases were conducted in Arabic, (i.e. 70%),
whereas 23, (i.e. 30%), were conducted in English. The French version of the
CRCICA Rules has been issued on 31 March 2017.

The total number of mediations filed before CRCICA until 31
December 2018 reached 11 cases. In 2018, 2 new cases were filed.

The first case was filed on the basis of a BIT and involved an
Egyptian investor and a Middle East state and a number of its entities. The
mediation was filed as an attempt to settle the dispute amicably and trigger
the cooling-off period provided for in the BIT. The BIT provided for
arbitration before CRCICA as an option for the investors to settle their
disputes with the host state.

The second case involved a multi-tier dispute resolution clause,
which required the parties to participate in mediation prior to initiating
arbitral proceedings. The dispute involved a contract for works to be performed
in a factory in Egypt.