The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business

Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE TWO Arbitration Bills tabled yesterday in Parliament were hailed as “futuristic” concepts that open up alternatives to the Supreme Court as a forum for resolving commercial and other disputes.

Rengin Johnson, immediate past chair of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CAirb) Bahamas branch, told Tribune Business she was thrilled that the Arbitration Amendment Bill 2023 and International Commercial Arbitration Bill 2023 were laid by Prime Minister Philip Davis KC.

Describing them as a “futuristic and valuable concept”, she said: “The thing is, I am hoping that it will become one of our income-earning industries, both from domestic as well as internationally, because at the end of the day it is popular globally.

“Rather than go to the judicial department, the parties are able to select their own arbitrator or arbitrators, or the mediator or the negotiators, and they select the time and the venue. They also negotiate an established price of an arbitrator in order to do the arbitration proceedings, or the mediator, negotiator or adjudicator.

“So everything is pre-agreed. The parties select the procedure. The parties actually have to give authority to prepare the proceedings, or actually the parties have an input as to the selected procedure, whether it’s going to be face-to-face in an office or virtually through a Zoom meeting or Skype.”

The Bahamas has talked for decades about establishing itself as a major arbitration hub in the Latin American and Caribbean region, offering a forum for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for commercial as well as other matters to both foreigners and locals. The two Bills tabled yesterday represent an effort to reinvigorate this push.

“We have legislation that is being drafted,” Ms Johnson said. “We have an Arbitration Act, and then we are also going to have a Domestic and International Mediation Act. The Arbitration Act is going to need some amendments because of the new concepts coming in like virtual meetings and so on.

“I think our government should be very, very happy with this new concept in any working together with the judicial system, and when I say working together with the judicial system, the new Supreme Court rules have adopted the use of mediation proceedings during trial in certain matters.

“It can actually cut the costs down as well as the time spent in court, where you come to an agreement and then an Order is drafted. Then it becomes a part of the court’s Order, where it is used in domestic matters, civil proceedings,” she added. “So therefore we already adopting ADR proceedings, one of which is the mediation in the Supreme Court.

“We will be helping the Supreme Court to condense the amount of time spent in the court system. So, therefore, I see it as a very futuristic and very valuable concept. We’re not taking anything away from the court. In fact, we are going to help the courts so that they can proceed with the court hearings in a more swift manner without adjournments or without the length of time that is spent.”