By Murat Temizer
HELSINKI
A centralized system for trade and energy-related disputes is a necessity and the planned Istanbul Arbitration Center can fulfill this task, according to energy and capital markets counsel at Roschier in Finland - a Northern European law firm.
Ali Babacan, the deputy prime minister of Turkey said in 2013 that the country will establish a privately-managed arbitration center in Istanbul to deal with trade disputes including energy in which companies can apply to resolve their disputes prior to filing lawsuits in courts. The law to pass the approval of the Arbitration Center will be ratified in Jan. 2015.
The Chairwoman of the sixth Annual Baltic Energy Summit in Helsinki, Huomo in an interview with The Anadolu Agency, said it will be beneficial to have an internationally recognized place for arbitration which taking into account Turkey's role in the energy field will be in a location central to such activity.
She explained that in Finland, most of the energy-related disputes are solved at market courts but there is no centralized system.
"An arbitration center in Istanbul will bring trust to the system if it is genuinely neutral and it should be trustworthy," she added.
According to Huomo, an international arbitration center can lead to results that are more acceptable because those who make decisions at the arbitration center will be sector experts.
"If you establish a system for energy arbitration, you should be certain that the personnel who make decisions know what they are talking about," she stressed.
Huomo said that it would take time for the center to be established and to gain trust of the participants.
"All the pieces of the puzzle need to be put in place. There will be a big demand and I’m sure there has been a fair amount of research done behind this center," she added.
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