News of a dedicated international dispute resolution centre to be established in Sydney later this year has Australian arbitrators excited at the prospect of sharing in a booming market for international commercial dispute resolution work.

The importance of this market has already been recognised by Hong Kong and Singapore and although these cities are presently the leaders in international dispute resolution in the Asia-Pacific region, Commonwealth Attorney-General Robert McClelland is confident that Australia will be able to take its own share. “We enjoy very close ties to Asia and Europe, we have stable and robust economic, political and legal environments, and we boast some of the best legal practitioners in the world,” said McClelland.

The launch of the Australian International Disputes Centre will provide corporations with another option for resolving international disputes. “The fact is that international arbitration is emerging as the preferred choice for resolving commercial disputes, particularly by Asian business,” said NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos. “The explosion in arbitration is largely due to the fact that international investors want to avoid the uncertainty of litigation in a foreign court system with the associated lack of familiarity over processes.”
 
Another key element to the capture of the international dispute resolution market is legislative reform and McClelland has said that ongoing reforms to arbitration laws, at both a State and Federal level, will create an international best practice legal framework for arbitration in Australia. “These reforms provide the local framework for our highly skilled and internationally experienced Australian arbitrators to resolve disputes on Australian territory, under Australian arbitration law,” he said. “Australia will be the place to come to when businesses want their problems fixed, and fixed fast and fairly.”

The Australian International Disputes Centre will be built at a cost of A$600,000 and this will be jointly funded by the Commonwealth and NSW Governments, the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration and the Australian Commercial Disputes Centre.

The new centre will be located in a prime CBD location in Sydney and the facility will feature world-class communication, audiovisual and video conferencing facilities, tribunal facilities, conference rooms and access to translation and transcription services.

How much is the market for international dispute resolution growing?
  • The Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA) says 2009 figures reveal that the number of cases handled by major international arbitration centres has increased by between 50% to 150% over the past decade.
  • ACICA notes the rapid growth is largely due to the GFC, which has seen an increase in commercial disputes. ACICA note that because international investors want to avoid the uncertainty of litigation in a foreign court system – excessive time and costs, the lack of familiarity with foreign court procedures, language barriers, a lack of confidentiality and a fear some countries may lack an impartial judiciary – arbitration has become the preferred dispute resolution mechanism.
  • The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre’s cases doubled to 602 during the period 2000-2008. In Hong Kong, the overall legal services sector accounted for about 0.7% or US$1.3bn of Hong Kong’s GDP in 2007, according to the Census and Statistics Department.
  • The Singapore International Arbitration Centre had a 71% rise in cases to 99 during the period 2000-2008. In Singapore, the overall legal services sector accounted for about 0.5% or US$902m of Singapore’s GDP in 2007 and 0.6% in 2008, according to Statistics Singapore.

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