The Lawyers Weekly - February 10, 2012

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY
February 10, 2012 | 13

ANTHONY
DAIMSIS

Canada’s current international commercial arbitration (ICA) framework needs updating. Fortunately, this is easy to do. What is not so easy is updating it uniformly so as to ensure that Canada speaks with one voice in an area that falls mostly within provincial competence.

Before 1986 Canadian lawyers were not at home with ICA, and perhaps for good reason: Canada had yet to sign on to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, also known as the New York Convention (N YC) — and was quite unapologetic for this.

Fortunately, this changed in
1986 when a few Canadian law-
yers, academics and even polit-
icians who were attentive to the
ICA phenomenon took it upon
themselves that something had to
be done about it. The rest, as they
say, is history. Canada has joined
its trading partners on the world
stage of international trade by rati-
fying the NYC and, more signifi-
cantly, adopting as its ICA legisla-
tion the Model Law on
International Commercial Arbitra-
tion as formulated by the United
Nations Commission on Inter-
national Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

If Canadian ICA laws are too complicated to sort out, business players will simply choose another place with simpler laws to resolve their disputes.

“

Anthony daimsis, university of ottawa

Canada significantly impacts
business inside Canada. If Can-
adian ICA laws are too compli-
cated to sort out, business players
will simply choose another place
with simpler laws to resolve their
disputes. The impact of losing
these players is more than merely
Canada losing a few hotel and res-
taurant customers. It could mean
that within international business
circles, Canada becomes the choice
of last resort, if a choice at all.

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BCom LLB BCL (Oxon)
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11 Oaklands Avenue
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416.595.2491
rbernstein@bernsteinlaw.ca

T. 905.339.8054
hlenfesty@ucadr.com
183 Lakeshore Road East
Oakville, ON L6J 1H5
www.ucadr.com

www.bernsteinlaw.ca

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