The General Commercial Arbitration Rules
(GCAR) of the Canadian Commercial Arbitration Centre ("Centre"), as
supplemented by the specialized arbitration procedure, is
applicable to the terms and disputes described in Sections 1 to
3.
In the event of any discrepancy between the
provisions of the GCAR and those of the specialized procedure, the
provisions of the latter shall prevail.
APPLICATION
1. Any claim relating to a securities
transaction by and between a member of IDA and of the Montreal
Exchange who has adhered to this program, and one of its clients in
the Province of Québec, shall qualify for arbitration if all facts
relevant to the claim occurred subsequent to January 1st,
1996.
2. The specialized procedure is applicable to
qualifying disputes, as defied in Section 1, subject to the
following terms and conditions:
(a) that the client consents thereto if the
dispute relates to a claim for an amount, greater than $ 3,000 but
equal to or less than $100,000* including a cross-claim but
excluding interestand arbitration fees;
(b)that both parties agree
thereto,
- if the dispute relates to a claim for an
amount equal to or less than $3,000, including a cross-claim but
excluding interest and arbitration fees;
- if the dispute does not involve any amount
or, if the amount is indeterminate;
- if the facts giving rise to the dispute
have occur-red in part, both prior to and subsequent to January
1st, 1996, and the disputed amount is equal to or less than $
100,000* including a cross-claim but excluding interest and
arbitration fees.
3. In all cases not referred to in Section 2,
the General Commercial Arbitration Rules shall apply subject to
both parties* consent, and subject to the selection of the
arbitrator from the list of arbitrators specialized in
securities.
DELAYS AND NOTICES
4. The delays referred to in the provisions
of the GCAR are reduced to seven (7) days with respect to the
application of the specialized procedure.
5. A notice under the specialized procedure
shall be conveyed by the Centre by telephone to a party, its agent
or its authorized representative. The notice is decerned to have
been received on the day the telephone communication was made. The
notice by telephone is subsequently confirmed in writing, or by any
rapid means, which allows for proof of receipt.
ARBITRATION NOTICE
6. The party who intends to submit a dispute
for arbitration shall so advise the Centre in writing. Thee notice
must namely include:
(a) the parties' names, occupations and
addresses or those of their agents or authorized representatives,
as the case may be;
(b) a summary statement of the matter of the
dispute and, if applicable, the amount of the claim resulting from
it;
Shall also be attached to the notice, the
Arbitration Agreement, the documents and information which clearly
establish the facts as well as the parties' consent, if required.
The arbitration is submitted to the Centre as at the date of
receipt of the notice.
7. The Centre shall verify the qualification
of the application in accordance with the requirements of the
specialized procedure. In addition, it shall ensure that the
parties have attempted to directly negotiate a settlement of the
dispute.
8. If the application qualifies, then the
Centre shall so advise the parties and shall send them a request
for advanced fees, as well as a list of the arbitrators specialized
in securities. The defendant has seven (7) days to file a reply to
the arbitration notice and its cross-claim, if
necessary.
APPOINTMENT OF THE ARBITRATOR
9. The dispute is submitted to one single
arbitrator, unless other-wise agreed by the parties.
The parties shall choose, by mutual
agreement, an arbitrator whose name appears on the list of
arbitrators specialized in securities. They have seven (7) days
from the receipt of the list to confirm their choice with the
Centre. Should they fail to do so, the Centre shall, within the
same delay, designate and confirm an arbitrator from the
list.
ARBITRATION PROCEEDINGS
10. The arbitrator shall set the time and
location of the arbitration proceedings, after consulting with the
parties. He shall select the most practical solution involving the
least expense as possible, and shall so notify the
Centre.
11. The Centre shall give at least seven (7)
days prior notice of the hearing date. Exceptionally, a party may,
only once, request the arbitrator to postpone the hearing to a
later date, by paying the applicable fees.
12. Subject to contradictory procedure or the
arbitrators' consent, the parties may, by mutual agreement, forego
oral arguments and present their claims and arguments in writing
only. If the parties cannot agree on the conduct of the written
procedure, the procedure shall be oral.
The parties and the arbitrator may agree that
the arbitration shall proceed entirely by telephone
conference.
13. At the outset of the arbitration
proceedings, the arbitrator shall explain the arbitration procedure
to the parties. He shall apply the rules of law, except if the
parties mutually agree that his role should be that of the amiable
compositeur. He shall verify the parties' agreement with respect
to:
(a) the applicable rules of
evidence;
(b) the number of lay and expert witnesses
which shall be heard and the equitable distribution of hearing
time.
In addition, the arbitrator may, at his sole
initiative or at a party's request, render a decision with respect
to any issue which would not have been raised, nor have been the
object of an agreement between the parties. It is equally possible
for the parties to complete their statement of claims, and if the
arbitration tribunal agrees thereto, make any modification or
revision to the notice of arbitration, the reply, the crossclaim
and the reply of the cross-claim.
Once these verifications have been made, the
arbitrator, depending on the duration of time scheduled for the
hearing and/or in the event of a modification to the amount in
dispute, shall determine whether the specialized procedure remains
applicable to the file. In the event of its inapplicability, he
shall then refer the file to the general procedure of the GCAR for
the future, while remaining the competent arbitrator. The first
hearing session shall then replace the preparatory conference and
the arbitrator shall send minutes thereof to the Centre.
14. The hearing of the dispute shall usually
proceed within a period of four (4) hours in the same day of
hearing. In the event that a longer hearing period becomes
necessary, supplementary costs, according to the appended rate
schedule shall be requested from the parties.
THE ARBITRATION AWARD
15. The arbitrator shall render an award in
writing, stating the grounds on which it is based, and signs it.
The award must be rendered in a maximum delay of sixty (60) days
from the receipt of the file by the arbitrator, and at the latest,
three (3) days after the hearings have terminated, or in the event
that oral arguments have been foregone, three (3) days after the
date on which the arbitrator received the documents.
Except for any agreement between the parties
and the arbitrator, or owing to the Centre's decision, this delay
may be modified.
16. The Centre shall provide the parties with
the award.
ARBITRATION COSTS
17. The plaintiff shall include with his
arbitration application, expenses related to the opening of a file,
non refundable but deductible from his share of the arbitration
fees. During the specialized procedure, the Centre may require
special fees, as defined and calculated in the appended rate
schedule.
18. The arbitrator shall distribute the
arbitration fees equally between the parties, except for the
special fees which shall be settled by one party only.
Exceptionally and if the circumstances so justify, the arbitrator
may modify the distribution of the arbitration fees.
The specialized procedure comes into force
January 1st, 1996.
*Increased from $50,000 to $100,000 as of
November 3, 1999.