(a) The Companies Tribunal;
(b) An accredited entity, as defined in subsection 166 (3) of the Act; or
(c) Any other person.
The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission has recently drafted a set of standards for accrediting the “entities” referred to above.
Proposed Accreditation Requirements CIPC 20 10 2014
DiSAC, along with other interested parties were asked to comment. DiSAC’s comments are available below:
]]>(2) The Minister may create a panel or panels of persons from which appointment of facilitators and arbitrators in terms of this Act may be made, or contracts entered into in terms of this Act.
in 2013 the Department published an invitation for mediators and arbitrators to apply for appointment to this panel. The invitation set out the requirements for selection:
Applications for Environmental Panel
Prior to this the Department had engaged in a consultative process, on the basis of two discussion documents.
The documents below include comments and suggestions made by DiSAC.
Discussion Document_Environmental Mediation accreditation standards
Discussion document_Environmental Arbitrator accreditation standards
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The Department of Justice & Constitutional Development has published amendments to the Magistrate’s Court Rules which will see voluntary court annexed mediation being brought into some of South Africa’s lower Courts on a pilot basis.
The Rules for Court Annexed Mediation
Though welcoming this development, DiSAC has expressed some serious concerns about these Rules. DiSAC’s comments are set out below, only some of which have been addressed in the final Rules.
DiSAC Comment on Court Annexed Mediation (May 2013)
Also see DiSAC’s press release on the subject:
DiSAC Press Release_140401_Industry Concerned about New Mediation Rule_FV
The Department of Justice & Constitutional Development has published a set of accreditation standards for mediators wanting to work within the Court annexed mediation scheme.
Accreditation Standards for Court Annexed Mediators
In 2012 DiSAC had published a discussion document on the subject, with a view to assisting development of these standards.
DiSAC Discussion Document Court Annexed Mediation Standards
Many of DiSAC’s recommendation seem to have been disregarded. In further comments addressed to the Department, DiSAC has expressed serious concerns about a number of issues regarding the accreditation of court annexed mediators, and the fact that the scheme is being implemented without any indication as to how practice standards will be implemented and monitored.
DiSAC Comments on Accreditation Standards for Court Annexed Mediators
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South Africa does not have an international arbitration regime that meets the standards set by the UNCITRAL Model Law. This is a serious impairment to South Africa’s ability to be the seat of international arbitration.
In 1998 the SA Law Review Commission published recommendations and a draft Bill to address this serious problem. To date this has however failed to make it onto the legislative agenda of the Government. It seems that there is currently renewed interest in this.
The following documents are of interest:
The SALRC 1998 Report on International Arbitration
Draft Summary of Updated International Bill (July 2013) (2)
South Africa’s domestic arbitration legislation is also in need of revision and updating. Again the SA Law Review Commission has already in 2001 published a draft Bill to address this. To date this too has failed to make it onto the legislative agenda of the Government. It seems that there is currently renewed interest in this.
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