Latest update April 1st, 2025 5:37 PM
Guyana moves to update arbitration laws
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall and Arbitration Specialist, Justice Courtney Abel
Kaieteur News – A proposal for the update of Guyana’s arbitration laws and systems has been accepted by the Government.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the new proposal is ready for roll-out and will largely be managed by Justice Courtney Abel, a Guyanese and retired Justice of the High Court in Belize who has experience of working throughout the Caribbean.
The ministry noted, that Justice Abel has been engaged as a consultant to upgrade Guyana’s existing laws and to make recommendations to the government as to how it could develop and otherwise improve its local arbitration footprint, its training protocols and programmes to establish and maintain a high, international, standard of best arbitration practice.
The news follows consultations between the retired judge and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, last month, on the proposal to help to promote Guyana as an arbitration hub by facilitating and further developing and upgrading its local arbitration laws and practices.
Since then, the consultant has recommended that Guyana signs onto, ratifies, and where appropriate pass into its local laws international arbitration treaties including UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985), with amendments as adopted in 2006; United Nation Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention); Inter-American Convention on International Commercial Arbitration (Panama Convention) and United States Bilateral Investment Treaty (USBIT).
Justice Abel is also expected to review all of Guyana’s laws and rules as this will affect Guyana’s ability to achieve its objective of a reputable arbitration centre.
According to the statement, the consultant will make appropriate recommendations for repeal and the passing of new arbitration related laws and propose a wholly new administrative and infrastructural arrangement.
“The consultant will then provide any necessary support and assistance to the Minister of Legal Affairs in piloting the new arrangement through its constitutional, administrative and other legal arrangement to ratification and/or enactment and implementation,” the release added.
In addition, Justice Abel says that “he very much hopes by his involvement in, what for him is a grand idea for Guyana’s development, that he would be able to build confidence in international investors that Guyana is a competent, gold standard arbitration venue; a regional arbitration hub or centre and a commercial gateway to South America, from within the Caribbean”.
It is also recognised that the public, including court users, parties to disputes, court officers and administrators as well as businesses, would benefit from continuous sensitization by way of public education, as to the customs and practices of arbitration.
Local and international businesses, operating in Guyana, will also need to be informed of the benefits and importance of developing international (even global) commercial arbitration customs and practices.
Meanwhile, Minister Nandlall anticipates that the present development will not only have a positive, if not ground-breaking, impact on the commercial life of Guyana, but will also set, in place, long-lasting changes in the legal culture as it relates to civil and commercial litigation within the length and breadth of Guyana. He also hopes that by implementing the present proposal, local, regional and international confidence will also be inspired in Guyana as being a first-class place of commercial dispute resolution.
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