Therefereeof themarket
HowistheBrazilianmarketofgrains
fromthechangestothearbitrationrules
ofGafta,whichsignalstothecontracts
The Grain and Feed Trade Association,
also known as GAFTA, is a worldwide or-
ganisation promoting international trade
in grains, animal feedingstuffs, pulses
and rice and in order to do so GAFTA is re-
sponsible for drafting standard contracts
that are used by producers, brokers and
traders all over the world. One very im-
portant fact about GAFTA contracts is
that they are drawn up by trade mem-
bers to suit trade practices as these are
and as these change.
Alongside the standard forms of con-
tract GAFTAalsoprovides for dispute resolu-
tion services. Gafta’s arbitration service pro-
vides parties who use its standard forms of
contract with a system to resolve trade dis-
putes in a fast and efficientmanner.
Gafta Arbitration Rules are incorpo-
rated in all Gafta standard forms of con-
tracts and provide for a two-stage arbi-
tration system.
Following a period of extensive con-
sultation involving, amongst others,
Gafta`s Arbitration and Contract Com-
mittees, individual Gafta Qualified Ar-
bitrators and a number of law firms in-
volved in Gafta arbitration, Gafta Council
approved changes to its 125 Arbitration
Rules at its meeting on 15th June 2016.
The changes have been made to address
a number of practical concerns which
have been raised by Gafta arbitration us-
ers and will come into effect on 1st Sep-
tember 2016.
Frederico Favacho, from Favacho Ad-
vogados and a GAFTA member, reminds
that in Brazil, the ANEC contracts, pub-
lished by the Grain Exporters Nation-
al Association (Associação Nacional dos
Exportadores de Cereais, in the original)
also refers to GAFTA Arbitration Rules
and, therefore, the Brazilian market has
to be aware of the recent changes. The
amended Rules are now available on
:
.
gafta.com/write/MediaUploads/Con-
tracts/2016/125_2016.pdf
The main changes
are as follows:
* The time limit for claiming arbitra-
tion in respect of a dispute relating to
quality and condition has been increased
from 21 days to 1 year (Rule 2.2).
* A time limit for a Claimant paying a
deposit has been introduced. If the depos-
it is not paid within 60 days of being called
for, the arbitration application will be
deemed to have been waived (Rule 4.1).
* Arbitrators have been given greater
flexibility to consolidate cases.
* A cancellation costs rule has been
introduced whereby the arbitration pan-
el is entitled to charge a fee, based on a
sliding scale, when a hearing is cancelled
or postponed at short notice (Rule 16).
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