Since its issuance in March 2011, CRCICA latest Arbitration Rules have been well received on both the regional and the international levels. Of particular significance is the change in the costs of arbitration which relatively increased bringing CRCICA more akin to other international institutions and not depriving parties of their rights to select the best international arbitrators.
Recently, in an Article of the Global Arbitration Review (GAR): “Arbitration Costs Compared: The Sequel” (January 2013), Louis Flannery and Benjamin Garel of Stephenson Harwood in London updated and expanded a comparative review GAR published two years ago. The Survey involves a unique comparison among the costs of arbitration at ten “major and most popular commercial arbitration institutions” including CRCICA.
Believing that the Cairo Centre “(has) profoundly revised its costs calculation scales in March 2011”, the authors stated that CRCICA’s increase of its costs has “undeniably increased its attractiveness in the eyes of parties, lawyers and prospective arbitrators alike”. CRCICA’s standing and reputation as a serious institution, as explained further, may have been unfavorably prejudged on the basis of its previous unusually low costs. According to the authors, some arbitral centres would be well advised to follow this example by revising their costs schedules to bring their administrative and arbitrators’ fees to a reasonable level, whether by adjusting them upwards or downwards.
The outcome of the survey places CRCICA’s arbitration costs in a moderate stance among other international institutions. It was reported that CRCICA is the most affordable where the amount in dispute is US$ 100,000, in case of having a sole arbitrator, and US $ 500,000 in case of having either one or three arbitrator/s. For a case in which US$1 million is in dispute, CRCICA comes out as the least expensive if the dispute is heard by a sole arbitrator and, for three-arbitrator tribunals, CRCICA is the second least expensive institution.
In cases involving amounts of US $ 5 millions, US $ 10 millions, CRCICA costs are in either advanced or average intermediate position. In cases with US$ 50 millions, US $ 100 millions, US $ 500 millions and 1 billion, CRCICA position fluctuates between the second and the fourth.
CRCICA will build on the outcome of this survey in studying the effect of its revised scheduling of costs on its future practices.