About the DIS
1. The German Institution of Arbitration (DIS)
The German Institution of Arbitration (DIS) is a registered association with its seat in Berlin, whose establishment roots go as far back as 1920. The main secretariat is situated in Cologne. The DIS, in its current form, is the result of a merger between the German Arbitration Committee and the German Arbitration Institute on January 1, 1992.
The association currently has more than 1,150 members domestically and overseas, including numerous major trade organisations and chambers of commerce, leading German companies, judges, lawyers and academics.
The organs of the DIS include a board of directors comprising 18 members under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Klaus Peter Berger, an advisory board comprising 21 members and executive committee under the leadership of the General-Secretary, Rechtsanwalt Jens Bredow.
The DIS promotes arbitration and the serves the purpose of a central support of arbitration tasks in Germany.
In addition to the main secretariat in Cologne, the DIS also has offices in Berlin and Munich.
2. DIS Arbitration Rules 98
The current DIS Arbitration Rules have been in force since July 1, 1998 and is available nationally and internationally, supraregionally and non-sector specific to all branches of trade for purposes of the settlement of disputes.
The DIS Arbitration Rules grant the parties autonomy to the further extent possible for the organisation of the arbitration and has been proven its worth in hundreds of arbitrations. The DIS is available as a contact in each stage of the arbitration.
The costs of the arbitration are determined on the basis of the amount in dispute (Section 40 Sub. 5 DIS Arbitration Rules). The calculation is performed on the basis of a table of costs (Appendix to Section 40 Sub. 5 DIS Rules), which has been in force since January 1, 2005.
Since April 1, 2008 the DIS has offered Supplementary Rules for Expedited Proceedings (DIS-SREP). These rules supplement the DIS Arbtiration Rules of 1998 und provide for, as a rule, the determination of the dispute by a sole arbitrator, a limitation of the number of briefs exchanged, an oral hearing and a termination of proceedings within six months (in the case of a sole arbitrator) and nine months (in the case of a three-member tribunal) after commencement of proceedings.
Furthermore, since September 15, 2009 the DIS has offered Supplementary Rules for Corporate Law Disputes (DIS-SRCoLD). Like the SREP, the DIS-SRCoLD) supplement the DIS Arbitration Rules of 1998. They are designed specifically for the determination of disputes relating to resolutions of limited liability companies (GmbH), although they are also suitable for various other types of disputes.
The aforementioned rules are available in different languages unter the Menu item DIS-Rules, corresponding model clauses are available und the Menu item DIS-Model Clauses.
3. Further ADR Rules
With its DIS-Konfliktmanagementordnung (DIS-KMO) the DIS -- since May1, 2010 -- offers a set of the procedural rules, in which -- upon application of a party -- a conflict manager nominated by the DIS clarifies with the parties, ideally within a few days of eruption of the dispute, how and with which method the conflict is to be resolved.
Besides the DIS Arbitration Rules the following rules for the resolution of the dispute are available:
• the DIS Mediationsordnung (DIS-MedO) for all cases in which the parties wish to conduct conciliation proceedings with respect to a specific dispute;
• the DIS Schiedsgutachtensordnung (DIS-SchGO) for all cases in which the parties wish to achieve a decision by a third party with preliminary (or final) binding effect with respect to a specific issue in dispute;
• the DIS Gutachtensordnung (DIS-GO) for all cases in which the parties wish to receive a determination by a third party which is not binding but merely a determination by an expert and contains a recommendation for the resolution of the dispute;
• the DIS Verfahrensordnung für Adjudikation (DIS-AVO) for all cases in which the parties which to implement a dispute board already at the outset of a project which is responsible for the resolution of all disputes during the course of the project.
In addition, the DIS Mediation/Conciliation Rules, as in force since January 1, 2002, do not contain any specific guidelines respecting the procedural principles of the intermediary.
The parties can agree to all of the rules even without a prior conflict management procedure.
The aforementioned rules are available on the DIS website under the menu item DIS-Rules, corresponding model clauses are available under the item DIS-Model Clauses.
4. DIS German Court of Arbitration for Sport
Since January 1, 2008, the DIS has offered the German Court of Arbitration for Sport. The idea of establishing an independent arbitration court for sports-related matters was a joint initiate of the German National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and the DIS. The DIS-Sports arbitration rules were specifically developed for resolving sports-related disputes, such as disputes relating to breaches of anti-doping rules, disputes arising in the context of sports events, transfer disputes, disputes respecting licensing and sponsoring agreements, as well as disputes arising from membership in a sports club or association, etc. The rules are essentially consistent with the current DIS Arbitration Rules and are based on the practical experience of the DIS since 1998 in the administration of arbitration proceedings.
In the area of proceedings respecting breaches of anti-doping rules, the DIS Sport Arbitration Rules provide for different options, from the direct sanctioning of a violation of an anti-doping rule to an appeal for arbitral review of a decision rendered by an internal disciplinary body of a sports federation. In all disputes respecting a breach of anti-doping rules, the DIS Sport Arbitration Rules provide for a review of an arbitral award by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Further information on the German Court of Arbitration for Sport is available on its homepage.
5. Further tasks and activities of the DIS
As the leading German Arbitration Institution, the DIS has other numerous tasks. The DIS operates as the appointing authority for proceedings under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and is often designated as the appointing authority in national and international ad-hoc arbitration proceedings.
The DIS promotes the development of arbitration-related scholarship and teaching. The DIS offers, amongst other things, conferences on current issues in the field of arbitration or alternative dispute resolution several times a year. Furthermore, it participates as a cooperation partner in numerous other events (e.g. Petersberg Arbitration Days).
Since 2003, the DIS in cooperation with Verlag C.H. Beck publishes the German Arbitration Journal (Zeitschrift für Schiedsverfahren (SchiedsVZ)) six times per year. The journal contains German and English language contributions. DIS members receive the journal free of charge.
In addition, the DIS awards an award (DIS-Förderpreis) every two years for outstanding academic work in the area of arbitration or alternative dispute resolution. The DIS also offers the Arbitration Documentation and Information Center e.V. (ADIC) which offers the most comprehensive access to arbitration related literature in Germany.
6. Further information on DIS arbitration
The DIS Arbitration Rules are described in numerous handbooks and commentaries. The DIS Arbitration Rules are explained in a very descriptive way in Berger, Klaus Peter: Private Dispute Resolution in International Business: Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, 2nd revised edition, Kluwer Law International 2009, which is an interactive book in the English language. The book contains a DVD with a video describing the conduct of a DIS arbitration proceeding.
A commentary on the DIS Arbitration Rules, as well as German arbitration law in the English language can be found in Böckstiegel/Kröll/Nacimiento, Arbitration in Germany – The Model Law in Practice, Kluwer Law International, 2007.
A commentary on the DIS Arbitration Rules in the German language can be found in: Schütze: Institutionelle Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit – Kommentar, 2. Auflage 2011; a detailed description in: Kronke/Melis/Schnyder, Handbuch Internationales Wirtschaftsrecht, Otto Schmidt Verlag, 2005.
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