The Forum was attended by representatives of:
The China Law Society
The Bar Association of India
The Brazilian Bar Association
The Association of Lawyers of Russia
The Law Society of South Africa
The General Council of the (South African) Bar
The Chief Justice of South Africa (in part)
The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services of South Africa (in part)
Some South African attorney firms
The National Treasury of South Africa (in part)
Other interested parties since as development banks, chambers of commerce and academics.
KHL was represented at the Forum by Francois Terblanche (director – corporate and commercial) and Kai-Lie Chen (consultant – Chinese legal affairs).
The Forum’s main focus was on the development and improvement of multilateral legal structures between the BRICS countries in order to facilitate more and easier trade between the BRICS countries.
The Forum identified multilateral arbitration structures as the preferred dispute resolution mechanism to deal with intra-BRICS trade related disputes. Both China and India have already established highly functional arbitration centres in this regard. The expectation is that South Africa should do similarly soon.
Delegates also overwhelmingly supported future intra-BRICS co-operation on anti-corruption measures.
An interesting initiative that was proposed at the Forum is the creation of a standardised, uniform agreement for use by parties in different BRICS countries when they contract with one another in sale of goods or provision of services transactions.
The representatives of the legal professions of the BRICS member states adopted various declarations on BRICS related socio-economic activities, trade and dispute resolution at the Forum.
These include declarations that:
Multilateral commercial and investment dispute resolution mechanisms and institutions must be created to cater for the needs of the BRICS countries, emerging markets and developing economies.
Capacity and expertise in commercial dispute resolution must be developed in the BRICS countries, emerging markets and developing economies.
Annual legal talent development programmes must be conducted for young lawyers in the BRICS countries.
The exchange of law students and legal experts between the BRICS member states must be promoted.
The taking of appropriate measures against corruption related crimes (such as corruption, tax evasion, money laundering and drug trafficking) must be supported.
Click here for the full text of the declarations that were adopted at the Forum
The 2019 BRICS Legal Forum will be held in Brazil. Technical committees were tasked at the 2018 Forum with giving effect to the declarations that were adopted at that Forum. These committees will report back on their progress periodically before the 2019 Brazil forum, and then in greater detail at that forum.
It will be interesting to follow the committees’ progress. If they successfully implement the declarations that were adopted at the 2018 Forum, trade between parties in the BRICS countries will no doubt increase and resulting trade related disputes will be resolved much more time and cost effectively than is currently the case.
If you want more information about the 2018 BRICS Legal Forum or anything dealt with in this article, please contact our Francois Terblanche at ft@khl.co.za