General Assembly with Changes to the Statutes and DIS Integrity Principles

The revision of the statutes serves to incorporate insights gained from recent years of Board practice and to make long-overdue adjustments to current needs. The amendments represent a pragmatic modernization and opening of the DIS – in terms of substantive objectives, organisational structures, the use of digital formats, and a broader membership base. The amendments were developed in close consultation with the Advisory Board.

The principal changes may be summarized as follows:

• Expansion of the Association’s Purpose (§ 1): The purpose of the Association now expressly covers all forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including mediation, expert determination, and adjudication.
• Expansion of Membership (§ 3): While legal entities were already provided for, it is now clarified that partnerships with legal capacity may also become members.
• Standardisation and Simplification of Formal Requirements: Formal requirements have been simplified in almost all situations. Only withdrawal from membership continues to require written form.
• Organs of the Association (§ 6): In addition to the already existing Appointing Committee, a Sports Appointing Committee has now been included.
• Structure of the Board of Directors (§ 7): The “Chairman” becomes “President”; the Deputies become “Vice Presidents.” The Presidium will consist of the President and two Vice Presidents. The maximum number of further Board members will in future be 10.
• General Assembly (§ 11): The Statutes now expressly permit purely virtual formats. In addition, the period of notice for convening a General Assembly has been reduced from three weeks to two weeks in order to increase flexibility.
• Executive Committee (§ 16): The auditors are replaced by certification through external auditors, in line with previous practice and the financial scale of the DIS. The approval requirement linked to an outdated monetary threshold has been removed. Future powers will be reliably governed by Rules of Procedure.

The DIS Integrity Principles, originally adopted in 2016 to promote trust in DIS arbitration, have been revised at the suggestion of the Advisory Board. A joint reform proposal by the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board, aligned with international standards, was developed.

The objective of the revision is to bring the DIS Integrity Principles into line with international standards, to avoid unnecessary restrictions, and thereby to increase the willingness of suitable candidates to stand for election to the Executive Board, while at the same time preserving the parties’ freedom of choice.

The revised Principles will enter into force at the beginning of the next term of office of the Board of Directors.

The amendments include the following:

• Members of the Executive Board may, with the consent of all parties, act as sole arbitrators or as presiding arbitrators in DIS proceedings (service as co-arbitrators in DIS proceedings will continue to be disallowed).
• Clarification that lawyers from firms of which a member of the Executive Board is a partner may act as party representatives in DIS proceedings, provided it is ensured that the Board member concerned cannot gain knowledge of the contents of the proceedings.
• Extension of the DIS Integrity Principles to cover other proceedings.

Thomas Klich