An arbitration-like non-binding determination (the “Expert Determination Service”) is provided by the Committee for Professionalism (“CFP”). CFP endeavors to resolve any dispute or differences between market participants related to market practices by advising what it considers should be the then current good market practice, thereby avoiding the unnecessary time and costs of a formal proceedings in a court of law or recognized arbitration forum.
What the Expert Determination Service DOES NOT do is settling “legal” disputes, such as an interpretation of a clause in a document or in an electronic communication or a weight that should be given to any particular (purported) evidence. As written in Chapter IV of the Model Code, most of the disputes arise as a result of the failure by the parties to document the terms and conditions using the market standard agreement and terminology. Standard documentation are provided for most of the inter-professional financial markets by the relevant industry groups. Careful and unequivocal use of these documents and terminologies should avoid most of the disputes in the first place.
Any market participant(s) wishing to use this Service should read the Appendix 1 to the Model Code carefully and request to ACI in the manner prescribed therein.