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Standing Committees

Subject to budgetary provision, Chairmen may establish sub-committee for limited purposes and for limited time periods and only to undertake specific tasks. Currently there are no sub-committees of this type.

There are three Standing Committees and one Board:

Education and Membership Committee

The Education and Membership Committee oversees our membership, education, training and event activities.

The Committee consists of a Chairman and six other members, one of whom should have knowledge and experience of international arbitration, one of whom should be qualified as a lawyer in a civil law jurisdiction and one of whom must be an academic from an institution directly involved in the teaching of law and dispute resolution.

The decision of the Board of Trustees in October 2008 to increase the maximum number of ordinary members of the committee to ten permits the appointment of additional members to the committee.

The Committee:

• ensures that the provision of education and training both to those who wish to become qualified and proficient Practitioners, and to persons with an interest in private dispute resolution;
• encourages members to become qualified and proficient Practitioners;
• provides the means for testing the qualifications of candidates for admission to the various categories of membership by examination, assessment or other procedures.

and is responsible for the following (not exhaustive list):

• policy development to do with membership, including eligibility criteria;
• policy development to do with education and training programmes, including continuous professional development (CPD);
• approving, worldwide, appropriate Institute education and training programmes and competence standards for those wishing to qualify for membership and those wishing to act as Practitioners;
• approving suitably qualified course directors, tutors and trainers to support the delivery of Institute training programmes worldwide.

References: Charter Article 5, Regulations (9)

Practice and Standards Committee

The Practice and Standards Committee oversees the development and promotion of best practice through policy development, research and guidance for professional practice work.

The Practice and Standards Committee is established for the following, in accordance with the Charter Article 5:

• developing and promoting best practice worldwide, in each of its main disciplines - arbitration, mediation and adjudication (private dispute resolution - PDR);
• contributing to the body of learning about the law, practice and delivery of the main disciplines of PDR;
• the promotion and dissemination of a wider knowledge of the law and practice of all the disciplines of PDR, on behalf of the Institute as a learned society, by means of meetings, conferences, seminars and lectures and by the publication of relevant materials;
• the maintenance of an Information and Resource Centre
• the consideration and giving of advice upon improvements in the law relating to PDR.

The Committee comprises a Chairman and ten other members composed of:

- Commercial adjudicator (1)
- Construction adjudicator (1)
- International arbitrator (1)
- Other arbitrators (2)
- Commercial mediators (2)
- Civil lawyer (1)
- Common law lawyer (1)
- Legal academic (1)

The Committee is responsible for:

• developing, guiding and supporting the Institute's conduct of research and the creation of "thought leadership", as a professional body and learned society;
• guiding the Institute's input to international bodies and advising on the preparation of the Institute position on questions and consultations relating to all private dispute resolution;
• developing and publishing on behalf of the Institute, guidelines of good practice /practice notes and Codes of Ethics and, where practical, liaising with the Editor of the Journal "Arbitration";
• developing and publishing....the Institute's principal Rules and Procedures for the practice and delivery of private dispute resolution to parties, excluding such rules and procedures as are applied to the Institute's specialist scheme.

The full list of responsibilities can be found in the Regulations (12).

References: Charter Article 5, Regulations (12)

Panels Management Group

The Panels Management Group (PMG) consists of a Chairman and up to eight members.

The PMG is responsible for:

• controlling the composition and operation of the Institute's main panels of Practitioners in private dispute resolution, including the operation of the Panel Appointments Certificate Scheme;
• advising and supporting the development of private dispute resolution schemes, and controlling the composition of the individual panels of Practitioners for these schemes;
• assisting in supervising and monitoring the performance, and if necessary, the discipline of any member through an independent and impartial system, in conjunction and liaison with the Professional Conduct Committee;
• appointment of Peer Review Panels, whose function is to monitor and make recommendation in relation to the performance of members of the Institute.

Please note this is not an exhaustive list (refer to Regulations (11)

References: Charter Article 5, Regulations (11)

Examinations Board

The Examinations Board oversees the standards related to the testing of candidates' qualification for admission to membership.

The Board ensures fair and consistent conduct of all CIArb examinations and assessments managed and updates the list of education qualifications providing eligibility for membership.

The Committee consists of a Chairman and six other Institute members composed of the following:

- a member of the Education and Membership Committee
- a member with experience of international arbitration
- a lawyer qualified in a civil law jurisdiction
- a practising arbitrator
- a practising adjudicator
- a practising mediator

The Board is responsible for the following (not exhaustive list):

• policy development for the design, setting and conduct of the Institute's oral, written and practical skills assessments;
• policy development for the setting, marketing and moderating of each paper of the Institute's examinations including establishing the standards required and the requisite pass marks;
• approving suitable qualified examiners, assessors and moderators for marking and moderating the Institute's examinations and assessments, undertaken worldwide, and advising on administration;
• producing and publishing examination and assessment regulations, including an appropriate complaints handling procedure;
• appointing annually one or more external examiner(s).

References: Charter Article 5, Regulations (10)

Last Updated: 01 July 2009