<\/p>
By Pedro Augusto<\/strong> and Marcelo Picolo<\/strong><\/p> <\/p> International arbitration is undergoing a period of transformation. The advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the increasing complexity of disputes, and the need to preserve trust among parties pose significant challenges to the field. Likewise, imprecise or incomplete drafting in merger and acquisition (M&A) agreements and the potential for public administration intervention in arbitration proceedings are central issues in this ongoing landscape of debate and continuous improvement.<\/p> These themes were widely examined during the 12th Arbitration Congress of the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (CAM-CCBC), one of the most important events in the field in Latin America, which gathered around 680 participants this year. The event took place in S\u00e3o Paulo at the end of last month, bringing together leading arbitration experts from various Brazilian states and more than 40 countries.<\/p> \u201cFor arbitration to remain a viable means of dispute resolution, it must offer what the parties seek: fair outcomes, with decisions made by qualified and responsible professionals,\u201d said Andrea Bjorklund, Full Professor at McGill University and holder of the L. Yves Fortier Chair in International Arbitration, with experience in the public sector, private practice, and arbitral institutions.<\/p> The challenges faced by the sector today are at the center of contemporary debates on the effectiveness and legitimacy of arbitration. These challenges can be seen, for example, in how contractual clauses are drafted, in the intervention of public administration in arbitral proceedings, and in the ethical and properly disclosed use of artificial intelligence in preparing and systematizing procedural acts.<\/p> Among experts, there is consensus that the way contracts are drafted is the first step toward ensuring predictability and reducing disputes. In merger and acquisition (M&A) operations, ambiguous clauses, poorly defined timelines, and inaccurate translations of foreign terms or expressions are among the main causes of disagreements and conflicts in corporate law.<\/p> \u201cThese are issues that can be solved\u2014or at least mitigated\u2014through sound contract-drafting techniques. When the document has poorly drawn contours, the level of uncertainty rises and disputes naturally emerge,\u201d explained Andr\u00e9 Abbud, from BMA Advogados, who specializes in complex national and international arbitral and judicial disputes.<\/p> Public Administration<\/strong><\/p> Arbitration challenges also extend to the intervention of public administration in disputes, especially in cases with major economic and social impact. State interference is exercised through the interven\u00e7\u00e3o an\u00f4mala, a mechanism that allows public administration to participate in proceedings in which it does not have a direct legal interest. In principle, its mere expression of intent to intervene is sufficient, given that such proceedings may affect the economic well-being of society.<\/p> Recent experiences\u2014such as the arbitrations involving the Viracopos Airport concession (in Campinas, S\u00e3o Paulo), Telef\u00f4nica, and MSVia (Monitoramento Pantanal)\u2014illustrate the State\u2019s growing institutional maturity when participating in arbitral processes.<\/p> All three cases involved the economic-financial rebalancing of concession contracts. The public administration, represented by the federal government, intervened to ensure that arbitral decisions considered the economic impact on public policies and contracts.<\/p> The public agent\u2019s role in these examples was recognized as significant and essential for resolving the disputes. The intervention helped clarify complex issues and inform the tribunal about implications that may not have been evident based solely on the parties\u2019 submissions.<\/p> \u201cThe role of the interveniente an\u00f4malo (the State), as seen in the Viracopos and Telef\u00f4nica cases, is precisely to clarify facts and legal issues, submit briefs, and provide documents,\u201d explained Cristina Bichel Leit\u00e3o, State Attorney of Paran\u00e1 and member of the State Attorney General\u2019s Office (PGE\/PR). \u201cIt is not a party and therefore cannot produce evidence, even though there are differing views on this point,\u201d she added.<\/p> However, according to Paula Butti Cardoso, from the Office of the Attorney General of the Union (AGU), the Viracopos case stands out because \u201cthe federal government took a more active role, bringing forward relevant factual and legal information that contributed to shaping the tribunal\u2019s understanding.\u201d<\/p> Artificial Intelligence<\/strong><\/p> Another topic requiring close attention is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in arbitral proceedings. AI has the potential to streamline document review and assist in organizing and systematizing evidence, but specialists warn that no tool replaces human judgment. \u201cIf arbitrators or experts decide to use artificial intelligence, they must disclose this to the parties and give them the opportunity to comment on the use of the specific tool,\u201d said Tha\u00eds Chebatt, an infrastructure projects specialist at Pinheiro Neto Advogados.<\/p> According to Nikolaus Pitkowitz, President of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC), caution is essential when employing AI in arbitration. \u201cWe cannot explain the algorithms, but we must monitor how they are used and how they behave so that we avoid surprises that could compromise ethics in arbitral proceedings.\u201d<\/p> Among other topics that sparked strong reactions at the congress was the strengthening of mechanisms aimed at preventing disputes\u2014such as Dispute Boards for resolving issues in long-term contracts, and independent legal opinions (expert legal opinions). Discussions among academics from around the globe highlighted a new stage of maturity for arbitration and other methods of dispute resolution.<\/p> \u201cIn this dynamic and uncertain context, private conflict management must go further, taking on a leading role in risk prevention and in the pursuit of increasingly effective and innovative solutions,\u201d said Rodrigo Garcia da Fonseca, President of CAM-CCBC.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CAM-CCBC Congress held last month in S\u00e3o Paulo brought together leading experts from more than 40 countries; use of technology without parties\u2019 awareness and unclear drafting in M&A contracts are among the sector\u2019s key discussion points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":74284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1080","footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[555,215,125,1032,229,1965,584,1627,209,227],"class_list":["post-74318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-ccbc","tag-brazil-canada","tag-business","tag-canada-en","tag-canada-day-en","tag-ccbc-en","tag-ccbc-50-anos-en","tag-comex-en","tag-educacao-2-en","tag-innovation","tag-tecnologia-en"],"cp_meta_data":{"_wpml_word_count":["{\"total\":1009,\"to_translate\":{\"fr\":1009,\"pt-br\":1009}}"],"_wp_old_date":["2025-04-26"],"_et_pb_use_builder":["off"],"_et_pb_old_content":[""],"_et_gb_content_width":["1080"],"footnotes":[""],"_et_monarch_override":[""],"sb_djhf_disable":["0"],"_et_post_bg_color":["#ffffff"],"_et_post_bg_layout":["light"],"_et_pb_show_title":["on"],"_et_pb_post_hide_nav":["default"],"_et_pb_page_layout":["et_no_sidebar"],"_et_pb_side_nav":["off"],"_wpml_media_duplicate":["1"],"_wpml_media_featured":["1"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["53"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["Reforma Tribut\u00e1ria"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Evento do Chapter MG reuniu empresas de minera\u00e7\u00e3o e do agroneg\u00f3cio para avaliar impactos nos neg\u00f3cios com o novo sistema em discuss\u00e3o no Congresso"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["56"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["30"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["5"],"_et_builder_dynamic_assets_loading_attr_threshold":["2"],"_wpml_location_migration_done":["1"],"_thumbnail_id":["74284"],"_edit_lock":["1764110560:55"],"_edit_last":["55"],"_encloseme":["1"]},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74319,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74318\/revisions\/74319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ccbc.org.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}