SCCA launches its “COVID-19 Emergency Mediation Program (EMP)” to help reduce the pandemic’s impact on the business sector

Published Date: 07/05/2020

The Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (“SCCA”) launches today a new, cost-effective program providing remote Mediation with enforceable outcomes. The Emergency Mediation Program delivers the highest level of reliability for resolving disputes in accordance with institutional rules that ensure neutrality and optimal efficiency. It also provides parties with a practical and effective approach to mediation, enabling a fair and amicable settlement. Most notably, EMP provides parties with the ability to convert their own settlement agreement into an executive title (bond) to add certainty and thereby resume their business activities quickly.

The launch of EMP is part of the SCCA’s efforts to help reduce the pandemic’s impact on the business sector. By means of amicable resolutions backed by a settlement agreement convertible into a final and enforced title (bond), it enables parties with contractual relationships to prevent commercial disputes from escalating into lengthy and costly litigation.

The SCCA has taken this step in consultation with its International Advisory Committee, consisting of 14 high-level international experts from 11 countries, including well-known arbitrators, legal advisors, senior attorneys, and law professors. The design of EMP is based on the SCCA’s existing and time-tested Mediation Rules, modified to meet the demand created by this crisis for a swift, effective and comprehensive alternative resolution mechanism. This involved rethinking the way mediation is conducted these days and offering a state-of-the-art videoconferencing platform and an affordable fee schedule. It also necessitated re-training meditators from various disciplines to guarantee their readiness to meet the current challenges related to the pandemic’s effects.

SCCA Chairman Mr. Yaseen bin Khalid Khayat stated: “Crises like this one highlight the SCCA’s position as a neutral, independent and non-profit institution that operates in accordance with international best practices and standards and has the requisite expertise and record of accomplishment. It has also invested in building an outstanding roster of mediators and arbitrators from around the world, in addition to high-level international alliances and relationships that have positioned it to play its professional role in rapidly addressing this crisis.”

SCCA CEO Dr. Hamed bin Hassan Merah commented: “One of the most important features of EMP is that it meets the demands of the crisis and aligns with the unique nature of the challenge. Disputes will be settled through a remote, fully virtual process that is based on amicable, consensual solutions and takes cost reduction into account, all while moving efficiently, flexibly and quickly. And it concludes with the conversion of the settlement reached by the parties into a final, enforceable executive bond.”

In this context, the Conciliation Center (“Mosalha”), under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice, is undertaking important efforts to develop and support the Kingdom’s conciliation and mediation system. The SCCA is accredited as a registered Conciliation Office within that system, enabling the SCCA to convert settlements resulting from SCCA Mediation into enforceable titles (bonds). This is a significant milestone for the alternative dispute resolution industry in Saudi Arabia. On a more global level, the SCCA is the first of ADR centre to offer such a comprehensive solution at an institutional level that fully embraces the spirit and intent of what the Singapore Convection has accomplished at international level.

Please find more information about EMP on our website in both Arabic and English. Our website offers a comprehensive education and awareness center and provides access to program guides and other client and neutral resources. Most importantly, parties begin their mediation request via a secure and confidential platform, guided through a few quick, simple steps.