Business updates

The MCCI Arbitration and Mediation Center (MARC) is pleased to announce that the MARC Court will be fully operational as from 2 October 2017, when an amendment to the 2014 MARC Arbitration Rules will take effect, to cater for changes brought to the MARC Governance Structure.

 The 2017 Amendment to the 2014 MARC Arbitration Rules provides for changes to articles 6, 12, 13, 17, 18, 34 of 2014 Arbitration Rules as well as to the Scale of Arbitration Costs. In essence, several of the functions previously carried out by the MARC Permanent Secretariat will henceforth be carried out by the MARC Court, namely:

• Article 6: Prima facie decisions on MARC’s jurisdiction to accept a case;
• Article 12: Decisions as to the number of arbitrators where the arbitration agreement is silent as to the number;
• Article 13: Appointment of one or more arbitrators in the absence of agreement between the parties or where the agreed appointment procedure fails;
• Article 17: Decisions on challenges raised against arbitrators;
• Article 18: Decisions on an arbitrator’s inability or failure to act;
• Article 18: Replacement of arbitrators;
• Article 34: Interpretation of the Rules; and
• Scale of Costs: Fixing of arbitrators’ fees and administrative costs where the amount in dispute exceeds MUR 500,000,000.

In addition, the Court shall be empowered to carry out the following functions:

• Responding to issues raised by the MARC Permanent Secretariat in relation to draft awards; and
• Decisions and / or advice on other issues related to procedure and case management as may be submitted by the MARC Permanent Secretariat.

The 2017 Amendment to the 2014 MARC Arbitration Rules can be downloaded here.

For arbitration cases that have commenced before the 2017 Amendment to the Rules comes into effect, parties in agreement with the arbitral tribunal will have the possibility of opting in for the application of the 2017 Amendment to the Rules to their arbitration. 

The MARC Court consists of thirteen internationally renowned experts in the field of arbitration. The list of MARC Court Members can be accessed here.  The purpose behind the setting up of the Court is to ensure that the functions set out above continue to be carried out to the highest international standards by an independent and transparent process. 

As the Center modernises its governance structure and hearing facilities and services, amendments have also been brought to the Scale of Costs under the 2014 MARC Arbitration Rules. These amendments take effect as from 2 October 2017 and can be downloaded here.