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Legal Affairs Committee
Should disputes go to arbitration or litigation? Dr. Nabil Hilmy, chairman of AmCham Egypt’s Legal Affairs Committee, introduced Dr. Hazem Gomaa, professor of international economic law at Zagazig University, as guest speaker on October 31. The title of the discussion was "Should disputes go to arbitration or litigation?" Dr. Gomaa began his presentation by defining both procedures, noting that new and improved techniques had been developed for resolving disputes through negotiations and reconciliation. Arbitration and litigation both have advantages and disadvantages, and in certain cases one way may be more appropriate. Dr. Gomaa discussed the two approaches in detail, looking at their differences and weighing up their benefits. Afterwards, a question and answer session focused on how awards in arbitration are enforced, and by which – if any – government body. Resolution of business disputes with governmental agencies under the new law Counselor Hussein Hashad spoke to the Legal Affairs Committee on "Resolution of business disputes with governmental agencies under the new law" on April 23, 2000 at the AmCham premises in Dokki. In a step towards minimizing the volume of ongoing litigation between the government and private businesses, the parliament recently issued a new reform law. For the first time, this law enables governmental agencies to refer their disputes with private parties to special "quasi-judicial dispute-resolution committees" in an attempt to amicably resolve these disputes. A major factor for developing this law is the increasing number of lawsuits (8 million) taken to court and the mounting number (10% to 15%) of governmental agencies involved in these cases. The cases increase in number and remain in court for long periods of time because of the small number of judges and the right to sue (Haqq Al Takady). A proposed solution to alleviate the burden on the courts is arbitration. It has become obligatory to resort to arbitration in several specific cases and when dealing with parts of the customs, capital market and sales laws. In other cases it has become obligatory to resolve issues with the help of judicial or administrative committees. Prior to the issuing of the Dispute Resolution Committees’ Law, two concepts were formulated. The first, arbitration, has in fact gone through the system. While, the second, mediation, is still under research and study. Mediation is similar to arbitration in that it will abet in resolving disputes out of court. Currently, the latter process is not very effective because of its high costs and the fact that both parties must agree on the mediator. Questions regarding the exact role of the Arbitration process and the new Committees were raised for discussion in the following question/ answer session. The possible flaws within both processes were also discussed. Dr. Nabil Hilmy, the vice-chairman of the committee and Counselor Mahmoud Fahmy actively participated in the discussion. Domestic and international issues in environmental legislation The Environment and Legal Affairs committees organized a joint meeting January 30 focusing on domestic and international issues in environmental legislation. Guest speakers were Counselor Abdel Aziz El Guindi, former attorney general and chairman of Friends of the Environment (Alexandria), and Dr. Ahmed Rifaat, professor of public international law and dean of the Faculty of Law, Cairo University (Beni Suef Branch). |
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