The Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce Arbitration and Mediation Center (CAM-CCBC), through Supplementary Rule 02/2023, announced on April 26, 2023, the Corporate Arbitration Regulation. The regulation aims to provide specific guidelines for arbitration cases related to uniform multi-individual interests in corporate arbitration.
The Corporate Arbitration Regulation will be applied when the arbitral award may affect not only the directly involved parties but also the legal sphere of the corporate entity, as well as shareholders, partners, or members whose rights are directly subject to the effects of the arbitral decision. Additionally, it is required that the disputed legal relationship requires a uniform decision for all affected third parties.
Matters that may be covered by the regulation include the invalidity of shareholders’ or members’ meetings, total or partial dissolution of the company, liability of the controller, administrators, and members of the fiscal board to the corporate entity and its shareholders, and the liability of shareholders, partners, or members for the abusive exercise of the right to vote.
The decision to apply the regulation will be at the discretion of the CAM-CCBC Presidency, which may also determine the consolidation of an arbitration with another existing procedure. Notification of the affected third parties will be carried out by the CAM-CCBC Secretariat, which will also provide relevant information about the involved parties and the requested relief or claims. The affected third parties may request their integration into the arbitration by (i) asserting the claim of the Claimant(s), (ii) indicating their intention to join the original Respondent(s), or (iii) merely following the arbitration proceeding.
The regulation provides that affected third parties will be considered as parties, subject to the effects of arbitral decisions, regardless of their actual participation. Furthermore, affected third parties have the right to join the arbitration at any time, provided they submit to the selection of arbitrators and the acts already performed in the procedure.
The regulation will apply to arbitration proceedings initiated after the regulation’s effective date.