How Hong Kong plans to take arbitration online with new eBRAM project
- New HK$150 million platform could launch in the fourth quarter of 2019, and is backed by the city’s top two law bodies
- It aims to cut down on the expenses and travel involved in face-to-face negotiation
The costly business of negotiation and settling commercial disputes could soon move online in Hong Kong, with the help of a HK$150 million platform aimed at boosting the city’s status as a regional arbitration hub.
The system, Electronic Business Related Arbitration and Mediation – or eBRAM – is expected to slash arbitration costs by cutting down on face-to-face meetings and long-distance travel.
First advocated by justice minister Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah in 2017 when she was still in private practice, it was co-founded and supported by the Hong Kong Bar Association and the Law Society, among others.
The city government has backed it to the tune of HK$150 million (US$19.1 million) for its first six years. Pending the legislature’s approval, it could launch in the fourth quarter of 2019 or in early 2020.
“You rarely see the Bar Association and Law Society jointly cooperate in setting up a non-profit company, and that shows the legal profession agrees with the vision of going online,” Nicholas Chan Hiu-fung, chairman of the eBRAM Centre, which runs the platform, said.