The Differences between Dispute Resolution and Dispute Adjudication Boards

Published by
DBMENA Admin
Date
November 4, 2015
Category
Industry Insights

The Differences between Dispute Resolution and Dispute Adjudication Boards

Internationally, and broadly speaking, Dispute boards fall into two categories – those who advise or make recommendations to the parties and those who decide or adjudicate on a dispute. Dispute Resolution (or Recommendation) Boards do the former and Dispute Adjudication Boards do the latter.

The philosophy of resolution boards is that after three experienced, respected and impartial board members have studied an issue and made a recommendation on the basis that ‘if you proceed to arbitration on this matter, in our opinion the outcome will be this or that’, the parties will probably accept this as being good advice. The Dispute Resolution Board Foundation records show that if one of the parties chose not to accept this advice then subsequent arbitrations have, in almost all cases, agreed with the DRB. The major difference is that a recommendation is just that, i.e. a recommendation and is not actually binding on the parties. (more…)

Published by
DBMENA Admin
Date
July 20, 2015
Category
Guest Writer, Industry Insights

The Differences between Standing and Ad-Hoc Dispute Boards

The main purposes of dispute boards are to help to prevent disputes and to deal with them quickly if a dispute does arise – FIDIC, for example requires the DAB to issue a decision within 84 days. Whilst such matters may be dealt with if the DAB is a standing board, it is difficult to contemplate how an ad-hoc DAB can achieve such goals.

A standing board is appointed and convened at the beginning of the project and is obliged to become acquainted with the project, the contract and the parties and to undertake site visits and keep abreast of matters. Thus, the board is available to provide advice and opinions on matters that may otherwise be elevated to disputes. If a dispute is referred to the board, the members are well equipped to start work on the matter immediately and should be able to provide a decision within the prescribed 84-day period. (more…)