CRCICA collaborates with GZAC in an Online Video Conference
On the 15th of July 2021, CRCICA joined the Guangzhou Arbitration Commission (GZAC) in an online video conference on the development and cooperation of arbitral institutions, and in particular, CRCICA and GZAC’s plan to jointly participate in the construction of an ODR platform, for Online Dispute Resolution.
Attendees and participants counted Dr. Ismail Selim, CRCICA’s Director, Dr. Mohamed Hafez, Counsel and Legal Advisor to the Director, and Ms. Heba Roushdy, Director of Marketing and Head of the Conferences, Trainings and External Relations Department, in the presence of Ms. Dina Gamal, translator for the conduct of the discussions in both English and Chinese.
The collaboration between GZAC and CRCICA will enhance the ties that the Centre already has within the Afro-Asian region and in particular CRCICA’s close partnership with a number of institutions in China.
The CRCICA, through its Director, Dr. Ismail Selim, holds strong ties with a variety of arbitral institutions in China which have been developed through partnerships initiated under his Directorship, and the Centre is expected to become a privileged forum for disputes involving Chinese users operating within the region.
CRCICA organizes a webinar titled “Third-Party Funding in Arbitration”
The Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA) hosted on Wednesday 7th July 2021 a live webinar on Third-Party Funding in Arbitration from 5 to 6:15 p.m. CET.
The event was moderated by Professor Bernardo Cremades Sanz-Pastor, a founding partner at B. Cremades y Asociados with three speakers: Dr. Ismail Selim, Director of CRCICA, Mehdi Mellah, Head of International Arbitration at Alem & Associates, and Nicholas Tse, Senior Legal Counsel at Deminor Recovery Services.
Such a diverse panel of contributors granted the audience 4 different approaches to third-party funding in arbitration, namely an institutional standpoint from Dr. Selim, an arbitrator’s point of view from Professor Cremades, a counsel’s perspective assumed by Mr. Tse, and a financial one (including the funder’s perspective) from Mr. Mellah.
From the parties’ standpoint, third-party funding can be challenging as the due diligence the funder carries out requests a fair amount of time, ranging from 3 to 4 months and even more according to Mr. Mellah.
Thus, the speakers put the emphasis on the pro-active attitude the parties must adopt to speed up the process by sharing all relevant information, including the award’s enforcement-related costs. Dr. Selim took the example of Egypt, where two taxes amounting to 7,5% apply to awards intending to be enforced in the country.
To avoid conflicts of interests related to third-party funding, Dr. Selim announced that the CRCICA will amend its arbitration rules such as the HKIAC and the ICC to address the disclosure of the third-party funder identity and presence. Professor Cremades also warned the parties against the excessive level of control the funder may exercise over the counsels, given that they are paid by the former. Mr. Tse added that the parties shall ensure that merely a “dialogue” exists between each other, as any other relationship would be “inadequate”.
From a regional perspective, all speakers agreed to say that third-party funding is compliant with Sharia. One way to secure the transaction being to reimburse the third-party funder with a donation pledge.
Webinar on: Top Ten Issues in International Construction and Related Disputes
On 2 June 2021, the CIArb Egypt Branch jointly with CRCICA organized the webinar on “Top Ten Issues in International Construction and Related Disputes". The moderator was Prof. Dr. Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Founding Partner and Head of International Arbitration, Construction and Energy at Zulficar & Partners Law Firm, Professor of International Arbitration, Private International Law and English Contract Law at Cairo University. The speaker was Dr. Hamish Lal, Partner, AKIN GUMP STRAUSS HAUER & FELD.
After setting the topography of international construction projects, claims and disputes worked through, Dr. Lal explained a list of ten issues that are fundamental to understanding, managing, quantifying and resolving international construction disputes. He also considered issues that are currently of concern internationally, such as the use of standard form contracts (i.e. FIDIC) and multi-tier dispute resolution clauses.
Attendees participated actively in the webinar through interesting questions and comments. Their questions and comments focused on notices as a condition precedent to entitlement and the interface with civil code rights on prescription / limitation, the right to payment for variations instructed orally, the failure of an Engineer to timely issue a Determination, the application of civil codes, hot-tubbing of experts in international arbitration, and enforcement of DAB decisions. The webinar was attended by 200 participants from Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada Cyprus, Egypt, France Germany, India, Ireland, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Palestinian, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sudan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. They were from various legal and engineering backgrounds, and included senior judges from the Egyptian Court of Cassation.
First Joint CIArb Egypt – CIArb London Webinar on: Procedural Paranoia in International Arbitration: Is the Vaccine in Sight or Shall We Expect the Disease to Spread Further?
On 26 May 2021, CIArb Egypt Branch and CIArb London Branch organized for the first time, in cooperation with CRCICA, their first joint webinar titled “Procedural Paranoia in International Arbitration: Is the Vaccine in Sight or Shall We Expect the Disease to Spread Further?” The panel of speakers included Dr. Sally El Sawah, Founding Partner & Principal of El Sawah Law (Paris) and Dr. Rémy Gerbay, Partner, MoloLamken LLP. The moderators were Dr. Ismail Selim, Director of CRCICA and Vice-Chair of the CIArb Egypt branch, in representation of the Egypt Branch, and Mr. Jean-François Le Gal, Partner at Pinsent Masons LLP, in representation of the London Branch. Dr. Selim delivered an inaugural speech introducing the Egypt Branch, its establishment in 1999 as the first gateway to CIArb education in the region at that time, its services and activities.
The webinar was a lively debate; the speakers shared their views, forecasts, war stories, and suggestions on ways to cure the due process paranoia issue. Some of the views expressed by panel members included “the need for arbitrators to be robust and show courage”. Other views included the idea that further “soft law-type codification of acceptable practices”, similarly to what has been seen recently in relation to virtual hearings.
The webinar also included polls enabling the audience to express their views.
At the end of the webinar, Mr. Ben Giaretta, Chair of the CIArb London Branch, concluded that due process paranoia will remain in arbitration and we have to find ways to deal and respond to it as we currently do with covid 19. He also expressed his wish for more future collaboration and joint events organized by both Egypt and London branches of the CIArb.
The webinar was attended by 116 participants from Egypt, the UK, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Greece, Guyana, India, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, and the USA.
Webinar on: Good Faith in Construction Contracts in Egypt – What Does it Mean?
On May 19, 2021, the CIArb Egypt Branch organized jointly with CRCICA an interactive webinar on "Good Faith in Construction Contracts in Egypt - What does it mean?" The speakers were Dr. Waleed El Nemr, Contracts Director, Hill International (Africa) Ltd and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the American University in Cairo, and Dr. Engy Serag, Executive Director, Contracts and Claims at Orascom Construction and Adjunct Faculty at the American University in Cairo.
The Speakers started with an introduction on the concept of good faith, then proceeded to address scenarios involving issues of good faith, from both contractors and employers perspectives. After each scenario, attendees shared their views on these scenarios through chat and through voice/video. A total of 230 persons attended the event from Belgium, Burkina Faso, Canada, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Ireland, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and USA. The webinar was a great success as demonstrated by the encouraging feedbacks and comments of the participants: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/waleed-el-nemr-749b0516_ciarb-egypt-branch-webinar-good-faith-in-activity-6801158784644341760-k3vL
Watch the webinar on our Branch YouTube Channel:
