• OHADAC Expertise Rules
• Schedule of Costs - Expertise

1. What is “expertise”?

The expertise service makes it possible to access technical information in several fields.

This technical advice can be used immediately by the beneficiaries of the report, which is pertinent in a number of contexts.

Expertise gives you the keys to:

• Shedding light on an issue which is at the heart of an ongoing dispute, expertise being an alternative to mediation or arbitration in this case.
• In the event of an arbitration procedure, the parties and/or the appointed arbitrator can request the setting up of a parallel expertise procedure on a key topic. This is also possible in the context of a mediation or facilitation procedure.

2. What does the Centre do?

The Centre proceeds first with the registration of your request and reviews your objectives, the complexity of your project and the topics to be submitted to the expert.

The Centre then proceeds to appoint the expert, who shall submit a declaration of independence and impartiality.

A road map will later be drawn by the parties and the expert, the Centre being responsible for controlling its implementation.

The Centre is also responsible for the financial management of the expertise procedure: the expert's fees are paid to the Centre, which subsequently transfers them to the expert as it carries out its mission.

3. Seizing the Centre

There are two ways to seize the CARO Centre in this context:

(i) Introducing an expertise clause in the contract at the time of the drafting of the contract, based on the following model, and seizing the CARO Centre through the Request provided for in the OHADAC Expertise Rules.

In order to ensure that they will be able to have recourse to OHADAC expertise services when needed, while implementing their contract or developing their project, parties are invited to incorporate the following clause into their contract:

The parties may use the Expertise services of the OHADAC Regional Arbitration Centre (the “CARO Centre”) in accordance with the OHADAC Rules of expertise of the CARO Centre at any time during the implementation of their contract in the event of a dispute.

Parties can choose to add the following provision to the clause:

The report to be issued by the expert at the end of this procedure shall be binding on the parties.

(ii) Expressing an agreement to seize the Centre when the need arises

In the absence of a clause, and if you wish to benefit from the services of an OHADAC expert, you can seize the Centre at any time, by providing the identity and contact details of your partners in the expertise procedure, as provided for in the OHADAC Expertise Rules.

The Centre will then be responsible for contacting your partners in order to verify that they agree to the implementation of the expertise procedure.