Past Events

Egypt Branch was among the supporting organizations for a series of events organized to launch CRCICA new Dispute Board Rules (“DB Rules”). The events were held virtually on 4 &5 October 2021 and were introduced by Dr. Ismail Selim, Director of CRCICA and Egypt Branch Vice Chair, and moderated by Ms. Aisha Nadar, Infrastructure Procurement and Dispute Management, Advokatfirman Runeland, Sweden. Other supporters were Dispute Resolution Board Foundation, Pinsent Masons, and African Arbitration Association.  

CRCICA DB Rules were drafted through the guidance of existing institutional rules and the comprehensive input and invaluable contributions of the CRCICA’s DB Committee, which included renowned experts in the field of the DB from around the world.  The DB Rules, issued in Arabic, English and will shortly be issued in French, provide a prompt, cost-effective and impartial dispute avoidance and resolution mechanisms adapted to all types and sizes of construction projects. The DB Rules were issued to meet the increasing demand of the domestic, regional and international business and construction communities. They became in force as of 1 August 2021.

For more information about CRCICA’s new DB Rules and the composition of the DB Committee, please see the link:

https://www.crcica.org/pageDetails.aspx?Id=UW/v_p0l8U8s0Si3g0nj_HoNwF8=

CRCICA held two consecutive inaugural events in collaboration with Pinsent Masons (London branch) on October 4th at 6:00 p.m. CET & October 5th at 10:00 a.m. CET to launch its Dispute Board Rules in order to respect all time zones and not to miss such an important update on CRCICA’s initiative and reasons for issuing the Dispute Board Rules. Together with highlighting the DB in context and what they offer from the views of the financing institutions, the practitioners, and the users, in which the distinguished Speakers engaged in a lively interesting discussion. Dr. Ismail Selim, Director of CRCICA delivered the opening and introductory speech.

Please watch the video via the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6mcmjOxjwc

On the 15^th 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.

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.

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.