In 2015 ICC published revised Dispute Board Rules. This was the first revision since the Rules were introduced in 2004 and it reflects experience acquired over the past ten years.
The role of a Dispute Board (DB) is not simply to make decisions intended to resolve disputes, but to accompany and monitor the performance of a contract so as to be able to identify differences and disagreements as they emerge between the parties and before they mature into disputes, and then to intervene to help avoid them or resolve them informally.
In this article, three members of the committee that drafted the revised Rules, who are all experienced DB practitioners, describe and explain the principal changes that were made in the revision. While the concept and nature of DB proceedings have not changed, the new Rules, among other things, lay greater emphasis than before on dispute avoidance, strengthen the obligations of parties to comply with DB recommendations and decisions, and clarify the nature and purpose of the cost elements in DB proceedings.
The article also includes illustrations of procedural difficulties encountered in practice, recalls the importance of complying with the spirit and the letter of the Rules, and offers recommendations on measures to ensure the success of a Dispute Board, such as the careful selection of DB members, the participation of project staff in DB proceedings, and use of the intentional flexibility of the Rules.
| Code ISBN : | 978-92-842-0403-8 |
| Publishing date : | 2016 |
| Language : | English |
Three leading practitioners involved in the drafting of the newly revised ICC Dispute Board Rules explain the changes introduced and key aspects of dispute board procedure and practice.
Peter M. Wolrich is a partner of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP and chairs its international arbitration group. He is active as counsel and arbitrator in investor/state and commercial arbitrations, both institutional and ad hoc. The cases in which he has acted have involved the laws of a wide range of jurisdictions including Algeria, Canada, Congo, England, France, Gabon, Hong Kong, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Luxembourg, New York and Switzerland, and included many complex and high-value disputes. He is also an accredited mediator and has acted as the chairman of Dispute Boards.
Nael G. Bunni is a chartered engineer, arbitrator, conciliator/mediator and adjudicator and, since 1972, has acted in cases involving parties from over fifty jurisdictions. They have covered both domestic and international cases, conducted under institutional as well as ad hoc rules. He is a former president of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (whose Irish Branch he chaired from 1986 to 1989), and a past chair of FIDIC’s Standing Committee on Professional Liability and its Task Committee on Construction, Insurance and Law. Dr Bunni was elected a fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering in 1999 and in July 2015 was appointed chair of the Irish Ministerial Panel of Adjudicators.
Pierre M. Genton is the founder and senior partner of PMG Consulting Engineers & Economists in Lausanne (Switzerland) specialized in the prevention and resolution of construction industry disputes and the management of multidisciplinary projects. He has some 35 years’ experience in the field and has acted in international infrastructure and industrial cases as chairman and member of dispute boards, adjudicator, mediator, arbitrator, as well as forensic expert and consulting engineer. He has been involved in projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Central and South America, and his current work includes major transport and infrastructure projects such as Alptransit, the Panama Canal and high-speed railways in France.