Expert Determination: What, When And Why?

During the recent Brexit debate in the UK, one of the politicians leading the 'OUT' campaign, Michael Gove, famously said that the British public "have had enough of experts." Fortunately for the experts, this isn't the case for international construction disputes.

Our previous Construction Newsletter (August 2016) considered multi-tiered dispute resolution clauses. One option that parties can include in such clauses is expert determination as either an interim step or for a final and binding determination.

Despite remaining rare in domestic disputes within Japan, Japanese companies are increasingly being exposed to expert determination in international disputes. This is particularly the case in the construction industry, where expert determination is common in many jurisdictions.