Drafting of amendments to the Arbitration Law has been completed

22 Jul '14

On July 22 the Ministry of Justice of Georgia introduced to businesses upcoming draft amendments to the law on arbitration to representatives of businesses. The main reasons for drafting the bill is the legislative environment, which hinders the development of the arbitration, which should be replaced by arbitration as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, increasing its credibility and popularity. The business Association of Georgia, together with the Ministry of Justice, was one of the initiators of the introduced draft amendments. The work on the project has been ongoing over the last several months at the Ministry of Justice and the working process involved experts and representatives of businesses, non-governmental sector and academia. The legislative package of draft amendments will significantly support the development of the arbitration institute in Georgia, making it more popular, less expensive and attractive for dispute resolution; most importantly, these amendments will positively affect the business and investment environment in the country. The bill establishes conditions to refuse to notify or enforce the arbitration ruling, as well as conditions for appeal or cancelation of a claim. The state fee for notifying and enforcement of arbitration decisions will be reduced. The bill addresses the gaps in the Article 9 of the Arbitration Law, which states that the court may refuse to accept a claim or terminate the proceedings only after the commencement of the arbitration proceedings. The proposed amendment will establish that in case of arbitration agreements, the court will stop the proceedings at the request of a party. According to the proposed amendments, if both parties of the arbitration agreement are natural persons, they will no longer be required to present the agreement bearing the signature of a notary or an attorney; the competence of arbitration will be resolved by the court of appeal instead of the district (city) court. The draft Law will be introduced to the Parliament of Georgia for consideration in the nearest future.