3/30/2021
Recently, the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce (CAM-CCBC) and the CIESP / FIESP Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Chamber (CMA-CIESP) launched their respective regulations for expedited arbitration procedures, the application of which is admitted in disputes in which the amount involved does not exceed R$ 3 million, according to the CAM-CCBC regulation and, R $ 2 million, according to the CMA-CIESP regulation.
The purpose of both regulations is to allow demands of low complexity and that contemplate lower amounts under discussion to be settled through arbitration, however, with lower transaction costs. CAM-CCBC, for example, estimates that there is a reduction of up to 68% in administrative costs in this type of arbitration.
It is worth mentioning that, although the regulations have set a ceiling for the application of the rules of expedited arbitration – R $ 2 and R $ 3 million -, it is possible that demands involving higher values are also subject to such procedures.
In order to provide greater agility, there was a simplification of the rites, reducing deadlines and stages. In principle, it will be led by a sole arbitrator and will have its evidentiary instruction attached to the documentary evidence. In addition, the regulations in question conferred greater powers on arbitrators, allowing them, expressly, for example, to dismiss the hearing and even to reject the production of additional evidence.
It is estimated that, the procedures governed by the CAM-CCBC regulation, end, at the most, within 10 (ten) months, and, the one regulated by the CMA-CIESP, have an arbitral award issued down within 30 (thirty) days from the final allegations.
It is important to note that only the CAM-CCBC regulation opted for the opt-out standard, that is, the parties do not need to expressly provide for the application of the rules of expedited arbitration in the arbitration clause, since, if celebrated after the entry into force of the regulation in question, it will be linked to it. CMA-CIESP, in turn, opted for the opt-in standard, according to which, if the parties wish to submit to such rules, this option is expressly included in the arbitration clause.
In view of these new rules, it should be considered the submission of low complexity cases, whose extensive probative delay is not necessary, to expedited arbitration. Certainly, through it, the case will be resolved with a specialized decision and in a much faster way.
The regulation of this modality, without a doubt, is an important step towards the democratization of arbitration in Brazil.
Co-authors: Silvia Rodrigues Pachikoski, Julia Guimarães Rossetto and Tonico Monteiro da Silva
