Qatar Chamber hosted yesterday a one-day seminar on ‘ICC Emergency Arbitration Provisions as an Alternative to Qatar Court’, which was co-organised by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Qatar and Squire Patton Boggs.
Board of ICC Arbitration Court and Qatar’s representative in the court, Sheikh Dr Thani bin Ali al-Thani, attended the event and a number of lawyers, investors, and interested persons in arbitration.
Sheikh Thani said the seminar is part of efforts made by the ICC Qatar to identify arbitration provisions. ICC Qatar said the seminar touched on the key emergency arbitration provisions of the ICC that enable a party to apply for “urgent interim or conservatory measures that cannot await the constitution of an arbitral tribunal.”
Discussions included an overview of emergency arbitration provisions, enforcing emergency awards in Qatar, and advising on the practical lessons of a recent case example.
Tarek Saad, counsel in Squire Patton Boggs’ Doha office, said Emergency Arbitration or ‘EA’ was first introduced in the 2012 ICC Rules of Arbitration. He noted that the ICC Commission has recently published a report on this topic titled ‘Emergency Arbitrator Proceedings’, which is based on study of the EA cases received by world countries.
Saad pointed out that there are currently 95 EA cases received worldwide, half of which were related to the construction, engineering, energy sectors, real estate, telecom, transport, and natural resources. One EA case was in Qatar, he said.
Elaborating the emergency arbitration requests, Saad said they include anti-suit or anti-arbitrator injunctions, maintaining status quo, preserving assets or property, demanding performance of contractual obligations, and restraining sale of stock or products due to alleged breach of contract. They also include measures relating to corporate governance, measures ordering security, and preventing a party from drawing down funds from a performance bond.
Explaining how to file an EA application, he said, the party should first contact the secretariat at the ICC as soon as possible to alert them of his intention, then complete the payment steps and submit the application to the ICC’s dedicated e-mail address for emergency applications. After that, the ICC will decide whether the EA Rules applied or not and then it will appoint an emergency arbitrator within two days after receiving the EA application.
The EA Rules require the emergency arbitrator to issue an order within fifteen days from receiving the EA application, he said.
Tarek Saad, counsel in Squire Patton Boggs’ Doha office.
