Past Events

CRCICA hosted and co-organized the OECD-EU Regional Seminar on “Investment Dispute Management and Prevention” on 26-27 June 2018 and the OECD national workshop on "Investment Dispute Management and Prevention in Egypt", supported by the Middle East and North Africa Transition Fund, on 28 June 2018.

The Regional Seminar was held in the context of the EU-OECD Programme on Promoting Investment in the Mediterranean, which aims at supporting the implementation of sound investment policies and effective institutions in the Southern Mediterranean region.

With international investment disputes on the rise, notably in MED countries, and increasing concerns regarding Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, the aim of the regional seminar was to build capacities of participating government representatives to deal with and to prevent disputes between foreign investors and the State. Discussions focused on ISDS trends and challenges in the Mediterranean region, while recalling current debates and developments at the global level. A session on the main steps of the dispute settlement process was conducted with practitioners, followed by a peer-learning session on the establishment of policies and mechanisms for the prevention of investment disputes, to avoid escalation into judicial or arbitration cases, merging the different countries’ experiences.

The seminar was well attended by over 140 participants including government officials, private sector representatives from the region, representatives from international organizations, peers and international legal experts from EU countries, OECD experts and academia. All eight beneficiary countries of the Programme (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia) were represented. Other countries represented were: France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Republic of Lithuania, the U.S.A and Djibouti.

The regional seminar was followed by the national workshop, on 28 June 2018, which was organized under the MENA Transition Fund project on “Enhancing the investment climate in Egypt”. This project, implemented jointly by the OECD and the World Bank, aims at enhancing the investment framework in Egypt and at supporting the Government in designing a new investment policy and legal framework, and in strengthening its international investment regime.

The workshop aimed at building capacities of Egyptian government officials to deal with disputes between foreign investors and the State whether through management or prevention. It followed upon a workshop on the same topic held in March 2016 with counsellors, judges, legal experts and policy makers from Ministry of Justice and economic courts, State Council, Ministry of Investment and GAFI (conclusions available).

The program gave an overview of investment dispute cases that arose in Egypt in the last decade and their implications for Egypt and reviewed the management of the dispute settlement process focusing on the Egyptian practices and mechanisms while looking at other countries’ experiences and possible options for further rationalization of the institutional mechanisms established in Egypt.

Participants of the workshop comprised judiciary and government legal experts from the Egyptian Ministries of Justice, Investment and International Cooperation, Foreign Affairs, GAFI and other relevant institutions that are dealing with investors.

On 20 June 2018, the European Union Delegation to Egypt and CRCICA organized a seminar on: Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Exploring the Multilateral Investment Court Initiative. The Guest Speaker was Mr. Colin Brown, Deputy Head of Unit Dispute Settlement and Legal Aspects of Trade Policy, Directorate-General for Trade with the European Commission. Moderated by Dr. Dalia Hussein, CRCICA Deputy Director, the Seminar reflected a useful debate exposing the two arguments supporting and criticizing the Multilateral Investment Court Initiative and bringing to the audience a comprehensive analysis of the Investor-State Dispute Scenery.

Mr. Brown tackled the main features of a multilateral investment court and how they are meant to address the shortcomings of the current ISDS, its advantages for investors and states were also explained. Moreover, Mr. Jeremy Sharpe, Partner, Shearman & Sterling (London) LLP delivered a presentation on “The multilateral investment court: Questions and Criticisms”. Mr. Sharpe compared the European Court Initiative mechanism to other existing ones and examined its ability to deliver on the stated goals, i.e., neutrality, effectiveness, legal predictability and coherent dispute settlement system.

Other panelists were Dr. Ahmed El-Kosheri, Senior Partner at Kosheri, Rashed and Riad Law Firm and Dr. El Sayed Torky, Senior Advisor for the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

The event was widely attended by representatives of the majority of stakeholders including the Egyptian Lawsuit Authority, State Council, the Egyptian General Investment Authority (GAFI), Consumer Protection Agency, Ministries of Justice, Investment and Petroleum, five eminent universities, private sector companies, Italian Chamber of Commerce, Embassies of the USA, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Belgium, Lithuania and Bulgaria.

On 15 May 2018, CRCICA organized a seminar on “Dispute Boards: FIDIC Contracts”. The speaker was Dr. Eng. Sherif El-Haggan, Main Partner & CEO of Sherif EL-Haggan & Partner (Contract Administration & Arbitration Bureau), Professor of Construction Law at ESS (AUC), AAST, Cairo and Ain Shams Universities. The seminar shed light on the effectiveness of Dispute Boards (DBs) in resolving disputes related to construction industry contracts as DBs prevent accumulation of claims and future disputes during the construction phase.

Attendees were able to get acquainted with DB’s Decisions which are often used to reach an amicable settlement where the parties are able to perform educated negotiations after becoming aware of their entitlements from a reasoned decision issued by a trusted DB.

Dr. El-Haggan highlighted a very important feature of DB related to the choice of DB members as the parties play a much more active role in the appointment of the DB Members when compared with, e.g. an arbitral tribunal, and thus are much more confident with the DB’s decisions. Dr. El-Haggan also stressed that DBs are much more effective if the parties agree that the DB Decisions are binding.

An excellent example involving a referral related to variation orders and claims for damages was introduced to the audience; where the DB was requested to clarify detailed matters related to which events warrant the addition of a profit element and recommended percentages of overheads and profits. Following the DB decision, 250 variations were agreed by the parties on the basis of the details indicated in the DB decision.

The seminar ended on an interesting Q & A session and witnessed a diversity of participants from the following business sectors: engineering and construction, cost control and contracts, contracts administration, real estate development, projects management, investment, dispute resolution as well as members of law firms.

On 8 May 2018, CRCICA revived the tradition of holding mediation breakfast seminars by organizing an interactive session entitled “To settle or not to settle, that is the question: Is it noble to fight or coward to settle?” delivered by Ms. Fatma Ibrahim, mediation special advisor to CRCICA.

Ms. Ibrahim explored with the attendees one of the common fears about engaging mediation –that of appearing weak. To dismantle the fear, the attendees engaged in games and interactive discussions to recognize that comparing mediation to litigation or arbitration sets the parties and their lawyers in the wrong direction. Being future-based is one of the main features of mediation, where the parties look for a mutually acceptable solution through the assistance of a trained mediator, rather than evaluating their legal rights. Once the main features of mediation were clarified, the attendees concluded that proposing mediation is a sign of proactivity rather than weakness. For parties with a strong case, proposing mediation encourages honest and open dialogue before parties get entrenched in their views and positions. For parties with a weak case, proposing mediation is a sign of pragmatism and shows a desire to end the dispute as early as possible. The seminar was attended by a number of lawyers and engineers and reflected a uniquely interactive format that kept everyone engaged.

 

 

On 2 April 2018, CRCICA, in cooperation with the IDAI ("Institut de Droit des Affaires Internationales" in Cairo) and Henri Capitant's Association – Egypt Group “Association Henri Capitant-Groupe Egypte”, organised a colloquium entitled: The Winds of Change sweeping the Law of Obligations: Franco-Egyptian Perspective.

Held at CRCICA Conferences Centre, the event focused on the recent reform of the French Law of Contracts and its practical effects after two years of application. Speakers also analysed the future reform of the French Tort Law and the prospective modifications. Dr. Selim delivered a speech on the substantive rules in Private International Law (“règles matérielles de droit international privé”) which validate the arbitration agreement in situations where the applicable law is hostile vis-à-vis international arbitration. Generally speaking, the event was a great platform having provided a comparative analysis of the stance of the Egyptian and French laws on the subject-matter involved. Attendees were legal practitioners from the public and private sector companies and IDAI students, particularly master-level students.

It is worth noting that on 23 June 2014, CRCICA hosted the launch seminar of the Egypt Group of the Henri Capitant's Association entitled "The Necessity of Reforming Private and Economic Relations Laws: a Franco-Egyptian perspective". The Association, through its Egypt Group, has the objective of fostering collaboration between Egyptian and French jurists and, hence, widening the scope of research in many important topics and changes made in the Egyptian law and case law.