The Center is providing ongoing support to the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Legal Adviser on Private International Law, in its role as co-Chair of the NAFTA 2022 Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Disputes (NAFTA 2022 Committee). Chapter 20 of NAFTA encourages private parties to use arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve private cross-border commercial disputes, in the understanding that it is unfeasible to have ever-expanding international trade without a non-court-based system for resolving disputes that inevitably will arise out of those transactions.

Many businesses (particularly small and medium-sized enterprises – SME’s) are still unaware of the benefits of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Consequently, one of the primary roles of the NAFTA 2022 Committee in conjunction with the Center is targeted outreach on ADR: educating business persons, lawyers and judges as to the advantages and elements of ADR. It has proven especially useful and effective to highlight the use of ADR in specific business sectors and/or among various business associations which can tailor the use of arbitration and mediation to the particular needs of their members. The Center, in conjunction with the Department of State and the NAFTA 2022 Committee, continues to deliver outreach and educational programs in the NAFTA region to promote ADR, with a particular focus on SME’s and utilizing a sectoral approach (e.g., agriculture, construction, transportation, among others).

For more information regarding the Center’s work in the area of ADR, including outreach/education programs organized in collaboration with the U.S. Department of State and the NAFTA 2022 Committee, please contact the Center’s Deputy Director Kevin J. O’Shea and/or the Center’s Research Director, Mariana Silveira.