A two-day training was conducted on construction and intellectual property laws from October 19-20, 2009 by renowned Irish lawyers. The training, which primarily focused on construction and Intellectual Property dispute resolutions, was offered at Global Hotel concurrently in two separate halls for two full days and more than 40 participants attended the sessions.
The trainees were drawn from Governmental and Non-governmental organizations as well as private bodies working in the areas of construction and intellectual property. The trainees comprised pertinent professionals including civil engineers, mechanical engineers, architects, lawyers, musicians, graphic artists, writers’ inventors, innovators, procurement officers and other experts working on construction and intellectual property.
The trainings were officially inaugurated by a welcome address of Ato Teshome Beyene, Secretary General of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (AACCSA). Ato Teshome explained in his address that since its establishment in 2002, the AACCSA Arbitration Institute provided several trainings with a view to enhancing the knowledge and capacities of various professionals in the area of dispute resolutions. He indicated in his address that recognizing the need for an autonomous body to administer and facilitate the resolution of commercial disputes, AACCSA board of directors adopted several rules among which a land mark rule called the procedural rule of AACCSA Arbitration Institute, adopted last June is one important rule.
Following Ato Teshome’s speech, the Director of the Arbitration Institute, Ato Yohannes Woldegebriel, briefed participants on the past and ongoing activities of the Institute. The Director noted that a year ago, AACCSA and the Dublin Chamber of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding to consolidate ties between the business communities of the respective cities and cooperate on matters of mutual business interests. As part of the cooperation agreement, the two-day training was offered by renowned Irish professionals and practitioners on various issues to the business community. The Director also disclosed that this training was organized by Connect Ethiopia with the generous support of the Irish Aid agency. The director further elucidated that “before it was decided to organize the trainings, the AACCSA AI was invited to suggest as to what areas would best suit local interest for the training to be conducted. We found this offer quite exemplary and salutary that enabled us to set our focus and priority areas”. After the training areas have been identified and suggested, relevant and reputable Irish professionals were selected and over the past few months, there have been numerous correspondences to provide with the necessary inputs, local legislations and develop the draft outline of the trainings. “We are pleased to see that our joint efforts have succeeded to offer these trainings,” the director concluded.
The trainers on construction law covered issues like dealing with defective work, delay, liability and remedial actions as provided under the local public procurement rules, the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) general conditions of contract and FIDIC new red book. The trainers also discussed claims in damages, bonds, terminations, under PPA and FIDIC.
The training session on construction law also reviewed procurement practice for works project and under this title, international developments in public procurement particularly the procurement practice of the European Development Fund, The World Trade Organization procurement agreement requirements, the World Bank, The European Union Directives and others were considered. The economic rationale for the procurement regulation was also treated. In this regard, overview of procurement on Contract, Notice and pitfalls to avoid, award, selection, evaluation etc….were examined. The principal sources of construction disputes and the various means to resolve such disputes, preparation of claims and defenses were touched upon.
The trainers of Construction law were Mr. Philip Lee and Mr. Nicholas Collings. Mr. Philip is founding and managing partner of Philip Lee Solicitors and Co-founder and Chairman of Connect Ethiopia. Mr. Philip is an expert in the areas of public procurement and construction laws. He has been involved as an advocate and advisor in several construction disputes worth millions of Euros.
Likewise, Mr. Nicholas also specialized in Commercial litigations and arbitration with a particular emphasis on construction, engineering and utilities, technology and related disputes. He has vast experience on all kinds of Alternative dispute resolutions including arbitration.
The training on construction law and dispute resolution also involved trial on the resolution of disputes and because of the interactive nature of the training, it was highly stimulating for all participants. In an evaluation form distributed for all participants at the conclusion of the training, it was observed that almost all trainees have disclosed satisfaction on the quality of the trainers and the organization as well as delivery of the training.
Intellectual property law was another subject of the training that was conducted in another hall. This training involved thorough discussions on virtually most important intellectual property right issues and encompasses design, music, software, trademarks, patent and knowhow. The trainers dwelt on broad discussions of the theoretical basis of each intellectual property rights and their practical enforcement and applications.
Discussions on licensing of various kinds of intellectual property rights and resolution of disputes using arbitration and other alternative disputes were also sufficiently deliberated. The trainees also had the benefit of examining various kinds of intellectual properties licensing agreements.
The intellectual property law dispute resolution training, the first of its kind to be conducted by the AACCSA Arbitration Institute and indeed the country, was welcomed and acknowledged by all trainees.
The trainers gave sufficient attentions to examine pertinent Ethiopian laws in each subject of the training and at times, interesting comparisons of the salient features of local laws were made with the Irish laws and other relevant international agreements.
During the course of the training, Ambassador of Ireland H.E Ms. Sile Maguire, paid a short visit and made a brief remark to the trainees.
At the end of the training, participants on construction law session, discussed on ways and means of creating a forum whereby local professionals working in the construction sector maintain sustainable ties with the Arbitration Institute to offer similar trainings and related support. To this end, participants elected Ato Beyene Woldegebriel, an arbitrator in AACCSA AI, to help organize the meeting on November 14, 2009 and requested the Institute to provide the necessary support to realize these objectives.