The Presidency of CAMARB – Chamber of Business Mediation and Arbitration – Brazil, in the exercise of its powers provided for in the Bylaws[1], resolves to issue this Administrative Guideline, which provides for the procedures and conditions for opening and maintaining a guarantee account linked to arbitration procedures, business mediation or Dispute Prevention and Resolution Committees (“CPRD's”) administered by CAMARB.
(I) General Provisions
1.1. This Administrative Guideline aims to guide Arbitrators, Mediators and Members of CPRDs who act in procedures administered by the Chamber regarding the measures necessary to open, maintain and close a guarantee account linked to a procedure.
1.2. For the purposes of this Guideline, a guarantee account is understood to be a bank account opened and maintained by CAMARB, as the entity responsible for administering the procedures, with the exclusive function of temporarily keeping, on deposit, the amounts related to a specific arbitration, business mediation or dispute board procedure.
(II) Request for escrow account
2.1. CAMARB must promote the opening of a guarantee account, acting as depositary of the amounts, whenever expressly determined by the Arbitrator(s), Mediator(s) or Member(s) of CPRD's.
2.1.1. As depositary of funds, CAMARB will receive deposits as collateral from one or more Parties, which must be duly instructed by the Arbitrator(s), Mediator(s) or Member(s) of CPRD's.
2.2. After receiving the determination provided for in item 2.1 and opening the escrow account, CAMARB will make the data available to the Parties, who must make deposits exclusively in the amounts previously indicated in the respective determination.
2.2.1. The Secretariat shall inform the Parties and the Arbitrators, Mediators or Members of CPRDs of the receipt of deposits made into the escrow account.
2.3. As a general rule, deposits into guarantee accounts managed by CAMARB must be made directly by the Parties involved in procedures managed by the institution.
2.4. Deposits made by third parties will only be authorized if duly justified by the interested party and authorized by the Arbitrator(s), Mediator(s) or Member(s) of CPRD's.
2.5. The Party making the deposit must bear all bank fees and taxes applicable to the financial transaction. CAMARB shall not be liable for transaction costs under any circumstances.
2.6. The escrow account may be used for new deposits relating to the same procedure if expressly agreed between the Parties and/or determined by the Arbitrator(s), Mediator(s) or Member(s) of CPRD's.
(III) Escrow account management
3.1. After the deposit or information on the amount to be deposited, the Secretariat will immediately request the CAMARB financial department to request the financial institution to present the financial investment options, including the respective income, fees and applicable taxes, and will send the relevant information to the Parties and Arbitrators, Mediators or CPRD Members as soon as it is received. It will be up to them to determine the type of investment for the amount deposited.
3.1.1. In the absence of such determination, the General Secretariat shall contact the Parties, Arbitrators, Mediators or CPRD Members so that they may determine the matter. As a last resort, the matter shall be submitted to the Executive Board for deliberation.
(IV) Making payments
4.1. Payments from the escrow account by CAMARB will only occur upon receipt by the Secretariat of an order issued by the Arbitrator(s), Mediator(s), Member(s) of CPRD's or a court order directly addressed to CAMARB. Such orders must be accompanied by an indication of the destination of the payment and other measures that must be taken by CAMARB to fulfill the payment.
4.2. If there is any dispute regarding the payment or its destination, this must be resolved by the Arbitrator(s), Mediators, CPRD Member(s) or any other competent jurisdictional entity, as the case may be.
4.3. Payments to be made by CAMARB will be limited to the total balance available in the escrow account, as per deposits made by the Parties.
(V) Closing of the escrow account
5.1. The document, decision or ruling that concludes the procedure to which the guarantee account refers must contain an indication of the destination of the balance of said account, as well as expressly indicate the measures that CAMARB must take in relation to the amounts deposited in the guarantee account, in a clear and precise manner.
5.1.1. If the escrow account must be kept active, the document referred to in item 5.1 must also indicate the time frames for closing the account and the destination of the deposited funds, in a clear and precise manner.
5.2. Upon completion of the procedure and transfer of the balance of the guarantee account, the CAMARB Secretariat will forward the statement of the aforementioned zeroed account and close it.
(VI) Final provisions
6.1. CAMARB's financial department will maintain an emergency account open with the financial institution. Should the Parties, Arbitrators, Mediators or CPRD Members require the provision of a guarantee account in an exceptional emergency situation, the deposit may be made into a provisional current account already opened by CAMARB, which will be dedicated to the procedure.
6.2. Whenever a provisional account is used as a guarantee account, the CAMARB Secretariat must notify its financial department so that it can arrange for a new current account to be opened with the financial institution, for use in similar situations.
6.3. CAMARB will not take any action to provide a specific account, application or transfer, without an express determination by Arbitrators, Mediators, CPRD Members or competent jurisdictional entity, as the case may be.
Belo Horizonte, June 26, 2025.
Flavia Bittar Neves
President of CAMARB
[1] Art. 20º Without prejudice to other duties provided for in this Statute, the President of the Board of Directors is responsible for: (…) j) issuing Resolutions, Rules or acts on matters relating to the administration of CAMARB or procedures administered by it;
