Built by CNI, a strategic partner for ICC in Brazil, the ICC/CNI International Arbitration Hearing Center will facilitate the conduct of dispute resolution proceedings involving parties from Brazil and the wider Latin America region.

The Hearing Center was officially inaugurated on the occasion of the 7th ICC Brazilian Arbitration Day by ICC Court President Alexis Mourre, Chair of ICC Brazil Daniel Feffer and CNI President Robson Andrade.

ICC Court President Alexis Mourre said: “This new venture brings ICC another step closer to the growing number of Arbitration users in the region. The facilities are truly cutting edge and tailored meet the diverse needs of professionals and parties involved in hearings. This new state of the art facility is part of the Court’s efforts to better meet the needs of our Brazilian users, with the recent opening of a case management team of the Secretariat in Sao Paulo and the introduction of a scale of fees and expenses in Reales.”

According to recently released ICC Arbitration statistics from the International Court of Arbitration, Brazil ranked seventh (of 140 countries) in global listing of new cases filed with the ICC Court in 2017. Nine cases are currently being managed by the ICC Court’s newly established case management team in Sao Paulo.

CNI President, Robson Braga de Andrade, said that the Centre would strengthen ties between Brazilian industry and ICC, and illustrated CNI’s commitment to improving the business environment of the country.

Gabriel Petrus, Executive Director of ICC Brazil said: “The Centre represents and a prominent hub for arbitration in Latin America and signifies a large step forward for the expansion of ICC in Brazil. We look forward to maintaining our close ties with the ICC Court Secretariat as we continue to expand ICC’s presence in Brazil and more widely across Latin America.”

The inauguration of the Hearing Centre and ICC Brazil Arbitration Day took place as part of a number of ICC activities taking place in Sao Paulo this week. Now in its seventh year, Brazil Arbitration Day brought together close to 300 hundred practitioners to discuss issues and recent developments related to the current international arbitration landscape.

On 14 March, ICC held a training explaining the roles and tasks of a tribunal secretary and the benefits they can bring to proceedings. The week concludes on 16 March with a special training for State Entities.