AR 40/2020

New administrative organization and rules for the electronic processing of procedures

Ref.: Administrative organization of the CAM-CCBC and rules for the electronic processing of proceedings under the public health rules related to Covid-19

CONSIDERING that the Administrative Resolution No. 39/2020 dealt with the impact of the exceptional situation related to Covid-19 on the activities of the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (“CAM-CCBC”) until April 1st, 2020, as well as such situation remains and will last for an undetermined time;

 CONSIDERING CAM-CCBC’s total commitment, on one side, to the preservation of the integrity of the community as a whole, including arbitrators, mediators, experts, lawyers, parties and their employees, and, on the other side, to providing an efficient administration of alternative dispute resolution methods;

 The President of the CAM-CCBC in the use of the powers conferred on her by article 2.6 (c) and (f) [1] of the CAM-CCBC Rules, approved on September 1, 2011, with amendments approved on April 28, 2016, resolves to issue this resolution.

  1. Duration

This resolution takes effect on April 2nd, 2020, following Administrative Resolution No. 39/2020, which was in force until April 1st, 2020.

In view of the current scenario of uncertainty and the impossibility of predicting the exact date of return for on-site activities in Brazil and at CAM-CCBC headquarters, this Resolution will remain in effect until expressly revoked.

  1. Secretariat

The CAM-CCBC team remains fully operational and can be contacted by email or by phone, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Contact information is available on our website www.ccbc.org.br. (click here to access Case Managers contact details)

  1. Protocols, notifications and compliance with deadlines by electronic means

The on-site protocol of physical copies of documents at the CAM-CCBC headquarters remains suspended, at the São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro offices.

Therefore, considering that, pursuant to the terms of article 6.2[2], electronic communication is, for all purposes, the means provided for in the CAM-CCBC Rules for communications, notifications or subpoenas, referred to acts intended for any of the parties[3] of the proceedings or related to them[4], in addition to the protocols of any petitions, decisions or documents must be electronically made, as described in the following items.

3.1. New proceedings

The submission of requests for the commencement of new proceedings (arbitration or other ADRs[5]), accompanied by attached documents, must be made by e-mail to [email protected]. If necessary, the Secretariat of the CAM-CCBC may provide a link to upload documents.

The party that wishes to commence a new proceeding, for the duration of this Resolution, must indicate the electronic addresses of the responding parties and/or those parties that it intends to notify so that the Secretariat of the CAM-CCBC proceeds to its notification solely by electronic communication.

Electronic notification replaces, for all purposes, communications, notifications or subpoenas made by letter, fax or any other equivalent means.

Any requests for exceptions to the electronic notification of the responding parties must be duly reasoned and will be decided by the CAM-CCBC General Secretariat.

3.2. Proceedings in the administrative stage prior to the formation of the Arbitral Tribunal

In the proceedings that are still in the stage of formation of the Arbitral Tribunal, the Parties were consulted in an administrative order of their interest in adopting the use of electronic routing of communications for the administrative stage of the proceedings.

In view of the current need to maintain, for an undetermined time, the new format of administrative organization of the CAM-CCBC work and considering that electronic communication is specifically provided for in its Rules, the electronic routing of communication is now a binding and mandatory rule.

Thus, all communications, notifications and subpoenas must be carried out according to the electronic communication procedure as follows:

I- All communications will be exclusively sent by electronic means to the Case Manager and the submission of the respective paper counterpart (hard copy) is waived.

 II- The CAM-CCBC Secretariat shall be responsible for forwarding the message to the other Party.

 III- The content of the Party’s petition may be in the body of the electronic communication or as an attachment, and the total size of the message must not exceed 9MB[6].

 IV- The Secretariat may, in the future, enclose to the case records a printed copy of the electronic communication and any related attachments, for record purposes.

 V- The deadline counting will start on the first business day following the sending, by the Secretariat, of the electronic correspondence containing the petition and its respective documents.

 Any requests for exceptions to these rules and/or suspension of the proceedings by the Parties at this stage must be duly reasoned and will be decided by the CAM-CCBC General Secretariat.

 3.3. Proceedings after the Arbitral Tribunal has been duly constituted

In proceedings in which the Arbitral Tribunal is already constituted, petitions and other documents (such as attachments, decisions, official letters, letters, communications, urgent measures, among others) must be presented by e-mail and made available in the shared electronic folder.

 The guidelines for uploading petitions and documents, as well as details about the protocol that will be valid for purposes of proving compliance with the deadline can be accessed in this link.

Any requests for exceptions to these rules and/or suspension of the procedure by the Parties at this stage must accompany justifications and will be considered and decided by the Arbitral Tribunal.

  1. Hearings and meetings

In-person hearings and meetings at CAM-CCBC offices in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and/or in any other location remain suspended.

In order not to hinder the progress of the arbitration cases, the CAM-CCBC Secretariat will send guidelines for conducting hearings remotely, via Microsoft Teams or a similar platform, accompanied by the Case Manager in charge and an IT technician.

The meetings will be scheduled by the Case Manager, which will send an invitation via e-mail to all participants, through which access will be granted with sound and/or video. During the meeting it will also be possible to display documents and presentations by using screen sharing.

The recording will be carried out by the Case Managerand the services of stenotype and translation may be contracted, if necessary. More details about the technical requirements and other guidelines for holding these hearings and meetings are available in this link.

  1. Institutional initiatives

The events organized and hosted by CAM-CCBC in the first semester of 2020 remain suspended.

Our Institutional Development team remains accessible by e-mail [email protected], to address events and other institutional initiatives.

 

 ***

 São Paulo, April 2nd, 2020
Eleonora Coelho
President of the CAM-CCBC

 

[1] Rules of the CAM-CCBC, article 2.6: The President of the CAM-CCBC shall: (…)

(c) issue Administrative Resolutions; (…)

(f) issue complementary rules, aiming at resolving doubts, guiding the application of this Rules, including regarding omitted cases;

[2] CAM-CCBC Rules, article 6.2: For all purposes of these Rules, communications, notifications or subpoenas will be made by letter, fax, electronic mail or equivalent means, with confirmation of receipt.

[3] Including, but not limited to, parties, lawyers, arbitrators, secretaries of arbitral tribunals, expert technical assistants and witnesses.

[4] Including, but not limited to, official letters, declarations and other acts related to the proceedings.

[5] In addition to Arbitration, CAM-CCBC also manages other alternative dispute resolution methods, such as Mediation, Domain Registration and Dispute Boards and acts as Appointing Authority.

[6] If necessary, the Secretariat may provide a link to upload documents that exceed 9MB.