Date:03/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/03/stories/2008100357021600.htm

National

MoU for “making India hub of global arbitration”

J. Venkatesan

Accord signed in The Hague for setting up PCA facility in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj and Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Secretary-General Christiaan M.J. Kroner recently signed ‘the Host Country Agreement’ for setting up a regional facility in Delhi.

The PCA is an international organisation offering a wide range of dispute resolution mechanisms. Having its origin in the Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes concluded in The Hague, Netherlands, in 1899 during the first Hague Peace Conference, the PCA is the forerunner of the Permanent Court of Justice.

According to Law Secretary T.K. Viswanathan, who was part of the Indian delegation which went to The Hague for signing the agreement, entering into a memorandum of understanding with the PCA to have regional facilities would provide a leadership role for India in arbitration. This “will enable us to compete with Singapore and Hong Kong to make India a hub of international arbitration. Such an MoU has been signed between the PCA and the Government of Costa Rica [establishing a regional facility for Latin America] and with the Government of South Africa [regional facility for South Africa].”

The regional facility is capable of providing the same services as the PCA headquarters in The Hague, open to both state and non-state parties to avail themselves of its good offices. The regional facility will provide a forum for peaceful settlement of international disputes — through arbitration, mediation, conciliation and fact-finding commissions of inquiry — both between states and between a state and a non-state entity such as foreign companies which have made investments in the region.

The cost of international arbitration will be reduced. This will encourage a more frequent resort to arbitration as a means of settling disputes. It will enable more legal experts from India to participate in arbitrations conducted under the auspices of the regional facility and to acquire expertise in this field, which would also have a beneficial effect on domestic arbitration, says Mr. Viswanathan.