The Arbitration Court at the BCCI reported a threefold increase of the proceedings initiated during 2009

Meeting of the arbitration colleges . Their work enjoys wide recognition among the juridical community at home and abroad

In 2009 there is a record increase in the number of actions heard by the BCCI Arbitration Court, noted Dr. Silvi Chernev, President of the Court, at a meeting of the arbitration colleges .

The number of the internal proceedings is 668 – an almost threefold bigger figure compared to the preceding two years ( with 246 cases in 2008 and 252 cases in 2007 ).

The number of the international cases has also increased by more than 100 % – 28 cases in 2009 ( with 13 cases in 2008 and 20 cases in 2007).

Claims for more than 30 million EUR obtained a ruling in 2009.

The price of the claims brought is also considerably higher both by absolute value and compared to previous years ( by internal cases - 78 . 1 million BGN , 11.8 million EUR and 473 thousand USD ; by international cases - 5 . 1 million EUR , 130 thousand USD and 2.7 million BGN ).

In practice, the hearing of one third of the actions ( mainly for lower-value claims presented ) has been more cost consuming for the BCCI in comparison with the fees collected . This is one of the steps in the BCCI’s policy of providing access for SMEs to a faster, good-quality and inexpensive jurisdiction – said BCCI President Tsvetan Simeonov who is arbitrator too.

The considerable increase in the number of cases - a positive fact in itself , tried the work organization and caused a considerable load on the Secretariat and the arbitrators . Nevertheless  the work continued at normal pace and from a logistic point of view the cases were considered within normally set time-terms. The predominant part of the rulings given are high-level ones , and some are notable for extraordinary precision and thoroughness of the motives on factually and legally complex cases.

The rulings published in the AC collections continue to be an object of the companies’ interest and the jurists representing them, and they are quoted not in arbitration cases only but also in proceedings considered by the state courts, including before foreign arbitrators (mainly ad hoc arbitrations, when the applicable law is the Bulgarian law).

No refusals of issuing a writ of execution based on an arbitration ruling by the BCCI AC have been found in 2009, nor any refusals to give an execuatur of our decision by a foreign court.

In regard to the terms within which the cases are considered, the data indicate that 92 % of the internal cases preclude within one year (49% within six months, 81% within nine months). By international cases, the percentage of the cases precluded within one year is 61% .

The same terms and quality are unthinkable for the state judiciary system, encumbered by the complex procedures of the Civil Procedural Code . For this big number of cases (668), 1.65% (11 rulings) only have been attacked at the Supreme Cassation Court and 0.15% (1 ruling) only revoked by the Supreme Cassation Court .

According to the BCCI President Tsvetan Simeonov – representatives from the private business, parties before the Arbitration Court, are also public legal subjects, which is also a serious indication for the approval of the quality of the work of the BCCI Arbitration Court .