International Conference on Commercial Arbitration

On October 27, a conference was held at on the topic: "Specific principles of commercial arbitration and their manifestation in arbitration proceedings", hosted and mainly organized by the Arbitration Court at BCCI.

The event was attended by nearly 100 participants and speakers from Bulgaria and abroad, who were given the opportunity to participate online. 12 reports were presented, with authors from Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Austria and North Macedonia. From the Bulgarian side, participants from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and Plovdiv University "Paisiy Hilendarski" took the floor.

The event was opened by Mr. Tsvetan Simeonov, President of BCCI, who greeted the guests and noted that the arbitration still has opportunities for development and its role in the market economy should be expanded so that BCCI can be part of those who respect the reign of the rule of law in our country. "BCCI has been doing everything for years so that the Arbitration Court at the Chamber can be modernized as much as possible. We are proud of the achieved degree of digitalization of our Court of Arbitration, which we can safely say is the most digitalized not only in Bulgaria, not only in Europe, but in the entire world. All our customers can confirm this. Many more prestigious arbitration courts have a lower degree of digitalization than us," Mr. Tsvetan Simeonov stated.

Some of the greetings and the welcomes at the conference can be read below:

Georgi Nikolov, Deputy Minister of Justice: “I believe that the results of the current conference will raise to a better level - professionally and morally, the authority of the institution, which will subsequently encourage more individuals and legal entities to turn to arbitration for dispute resolution”.

Evgeniy Staykov, Vice-President and Head of the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of Cassation: "The Arbitration Court at BCCI is undoubtedly the most prestigious arbitration institution in Bulgaria. I tried to check the outcome of the claims under Art. 47 of the Law on International Commercial Arbitration and for the last two years, the Court of Arbitration at BCCI has over 90% success rate in the established decisions”.

Ivaylo Dermendzhiev, President of the Supreme Bar Council: “Whenever I have attended an international conference in my capacity as the President of the Supreme Bar Council or as a speaker when it came to arbitration or alternative dispute resolution methods, the practice of the Arbitration Court at BCCI is well-known. To us, as a number, 200 or 300 cases a year may not sound like a large number, but in the context of arbitration, it is indeed a serious number”.

Vladislav Slavov, President of the Union of Lawyers in Bulgaria: "Not enough attention is paid to alternative methods of dispute resolution. There is a trend in which, by limiting the possibility of out-of-court disputes, lawsuits increase and this, in turn, burdens the courts."

The speakers - practicing lawyers, arbitrators, lawyers, representatives of the academic community, consultants and practitioners, examined various aspects of the concepts, limits and manifestations of the parties' autonomy in the commercial arbitration. Theoretical and practical case studies, current legal requirements for arbitration proceedings, as well as various trends were discussed.

Speakers:

• Lazar Tomov, Arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration at the BCCI, topic “Concept, Limits and Manifestation of the Parties Autonomy”
• Dr Dafina Sarbinova, Senior Assistant at Sofia University, topic “Parties Autonomy Limits in Arbitration Agreements in International Commercial Disputes”
• Prof. Polya Goleva, Arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration at the BCCI, topic „Parties Autonomy Limits in Arbitration Proceedings“
• Ass. Prof. Aneta Antonova, Arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration at the BCCI, topic “Applcability of Supreme Court Interpretative Decision 1/2020 in Respect of the Nullity of Transactions in Arbitration Proceedings”
• Rouja Ivanova, Vice President of the AC at the BCCI, topic “Waiver of Right to Object”
• Anna Förstel-Cherng, Vice Secretary General of the Vienna Center for International Arbitration, topic “Constitution of the Arbitral Tribunal”
• Dr Silvia Spasova, Member of the Presidium of the Arbitration Court at BCCI, topic “Arbitrators Independence and Impartiality. Challenge of an Arbitrator”
• Ileana Smeureanu, Arbitrator of the AC at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, topic “Evidence and Taking of Evidence”
• Dr Volodimir Nagnybida, Vice President of the International Commercial Arbitration at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine, topic “Limitations of the Parties in their Submissions: Gross Procedural Violation or the Right of the Arbitral Tribunal to Conduct the Process Properly”
• Andreea Simulescu, Arbitrator of the AC at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, topic “Allocation on Costs”
• Elena Milevska Shtrbevska, President of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Economic Chamber of the Republic of North Macedonia, topic “The Arbitration as a Challenge in the New Reality”
• Ass. Prof. Georgi Ganchev, University of Plovdiv „Paisii Hilendarski“, topic “The Future of Arbitration”

The topics of the lectures provoked an active discussion, many questions related to the peculiarities and specifics of commercial arbitration were asked and answered accordingly.

The conference was closed by the President of the AC at BCCI Blagovest Punev, who thanked the participants and noted: "The reports of the present conference were on topics that carried valuable information. They touched on key issues that inevitably appear in the practice of the arbitration process."