International Commercial Arbitration In India And Commercial Transactions

Information and communication technology (ICT) has given a new meaning to international commercial transactions and business. E-commerce has now become an indispensable part of our day to day commercial activities. This has also given rise to both traditional as well as contemporary international commercial disputes all over the world. So much so that the Law Minister Veerappa Moily has said that a commercial court would be set up in each high court and all cases with an investment exceeding a certain sum will be tried in the commercial court.

At the same time alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism in India is also under the process of rejuvenation. Though online dispute resolution (ODR) and e-courts in India are still a distant dream yet the procedure of bringing suitable amendments in the existing arbitration law of India is in pipeline.

Thus scope of International Commercial Dispute Resolution (ICDR) Services in India is increasing day by day. ICDR can be availed of for disputes arising out of contracts on sales of goods, distributorship, agency and intermediary contracts, construction, engineering and infrastructure contracts, intellectual property contracts, domain name dispute resolutions, joint venture agreements, maritime contracts, employment contracts, etc. The list is just illustrative as the business transactions are too many to categorised here.

The traditional litigation methods of dispute resolution are not very helpful for such high staked commercial disputes. This has necessitated the requirement for ADR mechanisms like Arbitration, Mediation, Conciliation, etc.

India has tremendous capabilities for both ADR and ODR. However, India is lacking on the front of a good law in this regard. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has proved more to be a burden than a relief. There is an emergent need of reformulating Indian laws in this regard.

National Litigation Policy Of India

Law Minister Veerappa Moily has recently released the National Litigation Policy of India (NLPI). It has many good legal and judicial reforms ideas. From avoiding unnecessary litigation by governmental departments to use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism, the NLPI is full of great ideas.

However, the NLPI is also deficient when it comes to use of information and communication technology (ICT) for legal and judicial purposes. The NLPI lacks ICT impetus as it failed to address the issues like e-courts and online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanism as means of speedy and effective dispute resolutions.

Further, in the absence of political will, India also cannot be a global arbitration hub. The absence of political will would also jeopardise the NLPI and the same may remains as mere words.

Moily is working really hard in the direction of legal and judicial reforms and all he need is accomplishment of the tasks assigned in NLPI. Further, he must also have a pro active approach towards use of ICT for legal and judicial purposes.

Moily must insist upon time bound achievements regarding crucial projects like e-courts and ODR. There is also an emergent need of techno legal trainings of police officers, lawyers, judges, court staffs, etc.

Let us hope that Moily would pay attention to all these crucial aspects so that legal and judicial reforms can be a reality in India.

Domain Name Dispute Resolution Institutions In India

Domain name disputes are increasing day by days these days. This is primarily attributable to cyber squatting episodes. The growing cyber squatting incidences require strong domain name protection and effective domain name dispute resolution mechanism.

The present domain names are based upon IPv4 and very soon India would adopt the IPv6 framework. This would also add its own share of domain name dispute that have to be handled effectively.

All over the world individuals, organisations and nations are working in the direction of using online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanism for resolving various disputes, including domain name disputes. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has been using ODR mechanism to resolve disputes for long.

In India, we have selective institutions that are providing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services. Even fewer are institutions providing ODR services and just a single platform providing techno- legal ODR services.

The limited growth of ADR and ODR in India is primarily attributable to lack of awareness among the individuals and companies engaged in disputes. Further, even the laws in this regard are not appropriate.

The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 is the sole ADR law of India and there is no dedicated law regarding ODR in India. Although arbitration services in India are for long yet they have to match the international standards. This is the reason why Law Minister Veerappa Moily is considering amendments in the ADR law of India.

With the ADR law in the process of amendments and India’s stand to shift to IPv6 the future of Indian domain name dispute resolution institutions seems to be bright.

Cross Border E-Commerce Transactions And Online Dispute Resolution

Arbitration law of India must accommodate some of the present day’s method of dispute resolution. Online dispute resolution (ODR) is one of the contemporary methods of dispute resolution. With the growing numbers of human interactions, there are growing incidences of disputes among them. ODR can be an effective, instantaneous and cost economic method of dispute resolution.

However, ODR has to face many technical and legal challenges as well. That is why modern day ODR must be techno-legal in nature. Besides, ODR must also be associated with other allied fields like e-courts to produce better results.

Cross border e-commerce transactions have further mandated that there must be an internationally accepted ODR framework that must be used while resolving various disputes.

In the Indian context, we have very few ODR providers that are providing qualitative ODR services. However, there is just a single techno legal ODR centre in India that is managed by Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB). In fact, PTLB is also exclusively providing online ODR training so that ODR may be widely used in India.

PTLB has launched the most comprehensive techno legal trainings for lawyers, judges, police officers, court managers, arbitrators, mediators, ODR professionals, etc. These trainings are managed by an online platform to maximise the reach of the trainings of PTLB. Application Form for enrollment to various techno legal training courses of PTLB can be downloaded from Here.

PTLB is also working in the direction of International harmonisation of ODR best practices and ODR regulatory and dispute resolution framework. With these initiatives, the future of ODR in India seems to be bright.

Techno Legal Skill Development By PTLB

These days almost all the persons and institutions are required to deal with techno legal issues like cyber law, cyber forensics, cyber security, etc. However, these techno legal fields are highly specialised in nature and they require good amount of training form the best institutions. Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) is one such institution that provides world class online and offline techno legal trainings and education.

PTLB has launched the most comprehensive techno legal trainings for lawyers, judges, police officers, court managers, arbitrators, mediators, ODR professionals, etc. These trainings are managed by an online platform to maximise the reach of the trainings of PTLB. Application Form for enrollment to various techno legal training courses of PTLB can be downloaded from Here.

Techno legal trainings are particularly important for corporate executives, lawyers and judges. The corporate executives have to take care of regulatory and technical requirements at companies. The lawyers have to develop good knowledge of contemporary topics like cyber law, cyber forensics, etc. Similarly, the judges cannot give proper judgment till they are aware of techno legal issues.

These training and skill development programs of PTLB can go a long way in effective implementation of national litigation policy of India (NLPI). Further, these courses also have great scope for legal and judicial reforms in India.

SOURCE: PTLB NEWS

Cyber Arbitration And Mediation Centre Of India

Cyber arbitration in India or cyber mediation in India is the recognition of the changing trend of dispute resolution. Traditionally dispute resolution was an exclusive task of the court alone.

However, the business community desired for an alternative for court litigation. This resulted in the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms like arbitration, mediation, conciliation, lok adalats, etc.

Information and communication technology (ICT) changed the very manner in which these ADR mechanisms are used. Now business community is stressing more upon online dispute resolution (ODR) than ADR mechanism.

ODR is the most convenient, efficient and speedier method of dispute resolution. The parties are not even required to leave their places and they can resolve their disputes even while sitting at their homes or offices.

With the benefits of ODR there are certain challenges attached to it as well. For instance there are very few ODR service providers in India. Even lesser are the ODR experts who can resolve the disputes through ODR. Further, when it comes to scientific disciplines, there is an inherent limitation for ODR providers to understand those issues. Fortunately, we have a cyber arbitration and mediation centre (CAMC) in India that is providing world class ADR and ODR services.

Sooner or later Indian arbitrators and mediators must learn to adopt and use ODR as the future belong to the ODR community. If you are a lawyer or judge you may consider the techno-legal training platform by Perry4Law Techno Legal base (PTLB) for getting good ADR and ODR training.

If you are an arbitrator or mediator or other professional, you may consider another platform of PTLB that provides cyber law, ODR and other similar trainings. All these platforms of PTLB provide online training, coaching and education and you can get these training as per your convenience.

Cyber Arbitration In India

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in India has a history of more than 60 years with the Arbitration Act 1940 as one of the initial laws in this regard. The 1940 act was repealed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996.

This has, however, not produced much change in the ADR law of India. The backlog of civil cases keeps on increasing despite the 1996 Act. This is due to the fact that there are many legal, procedural and fundamental weaknesses in the 1996 Act.

The 1996 Act is in the process of reformulation and there are numerous lacunas that must be removed in the next ADR law of India. The Parliament of India has, however, a serious limitation while formulating ADR laws. It is not much aware of the information and communication technology (ICT) related issues of ADR.

Cyber arbitration is one such aspect. Cyber arbitration is popularly known as online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanism. ODR is a better and improved form of ADR provided India is willing to encash its benefits.

The problem is there are very few ODR institutions in India. Even lesser are ODR experts who can resolve technical, legal and other scientific disputes in an online environment. Even the national litigation policy of India (NLPI) failed to address this issue.

There is no doubt that formulating good techno-legal ODR practices and regulations require tremendous expertise. There are few ODR providers who can assist the Indian government in this regard.

ADR Must Be Used As An Alternative To Litigation

Law Minister Veerappa Moily has recently announced the National Litigation Policy of India. It has many great reforms and if implemented in a timely and appropriate manner would go a long way in reducing the backlog of cases in India.

However, the policy is deficient in one crucial aspect. It failed to utilise the benefits of information and communication technology (ICT) for reducing the backlog of cases in India. Two most prominent use of ICT for reducing the arrears of cases in India are the use of e-courts in India and adoption of online dispute resolution (ODR) in India.

Till India is not ready for the use of ICT for legal and judicial purposes, we must concentrate upon using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods like arbitration, mediation, etc.

Adoption of use of ICT for legal and judicial purposes would not only reduce the arrears of cases but would also bring ADR business to India. India can become a hub for ADR and ODR services provided we must change the legal system and law in this regard.

There is an emergent need of amending the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 as soon as possible so that international commercial disputes can be resolved through international commercial arbitration in India.

The amendment procedure is already in the process and it would be a good idea if provisions regarding e-courts and ODR are also incorporated in the same.