An arbitration has required the brokerage firm Popular Valores to pay more than $212,000 to a dissatisfied customer, due to breach of obligations regarding information and advice.
The process was handled at the Center for Conciliation and Arbitration at the Chamber of Commerce in Costa Rica. According to this tribunal, Popular Valores "breached its obligations regarding information and advice" in their relationship with the client.
Infinito Gold has given an ultimatum to the Costa Rican government, to either agree to resume its gold mining project, or face an international law suit for $1.09 billion.
The Canadian mining company had initially obtained permits for the operation of a gold mine in Costa Rican territory, and had already started the project when a court ruling overturned the award, pointing to flaws in the process of granting permits, and environmental damage.
Arbitration between the Salvadoran government and the mining company Pacific Rim is in its final stages at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
The Canadian mining company received authorization to operate the El Dorado mine in 2002, during the administration of President Francisco Flores, but his successor Antonio Saca announced - and followed through on - that he would not authorize any mining project, a position also held by the current President Mauricio Funes.
While conventional courts take between 4 and 7 years to rule on a case, conciliation and arbitration centers do so in between 8 and 10 months.
The country currently has 15 centers and 17 Justice Houses of a public nature for alternative dispute resolution.
One example is the Alternative Justice Center created by the Lawyer's Association of Costa Rica, in January 2012, which in less than a year has resolved between 28 and 30 processes of conciliation and arbitration. However, it took 8 years to enter into play with other organizations who had already been in operation for over a decade, and are authorized by the State to conciliate and arbitrate conflicts.
In Costa Rica an arbitration court has ruled that it is abusive to have no maximum interest rates while having fixed lower rates in a loan agreement.
A ruling by the Conciliation and Arbitration Center of the Chamber of Commerce of Costa Rica, has ordered the Banco Nacional to return $288,000 to a client, because it set a minimum interest rate for a loan.
The litigant must bear the costs of the judicial process when they posses a monthly income over $500 or own property registered in the Public Registry.
An article by Alvaro Santana in Martesfinanciero.com reports that "In Panama, the administration of justice is free and there are no fees or taxes" with attorney's fees, making up about 80% of the costs of litigation.
The Panama Canal expansion project last year generated about 11,300 jobs, 60% more than forecast in initial projections.
According to the latest report from the Panama Canal Authority (ACP in Spanish), last year up to 11,330 workers came to work simultaneously on the project, exceeding initial estimates of 7,000 thousand.
Work began seven months later than stipulated due to the quality of the cement which was originally intended to be used, but the contracted company tries to meet the deadline of October 2014.
The administrator of the Panama Canal Alberto Alemán Zubieta, admitted that the work of expanding the waterway should have begun in January 2011 but didn’t start until July last year due to problems with the standard of the cement brought by the contractee the first time.
The contract is for $27 million to provide equipment design, electrical installation and engineering services for power distribution in the expansion of the Canal.
The contract is for three years and the work will be done in conjunction with Grupo Unidos Por El Canal, SA (GUPC), the main contractor responsible for the redevelopment of the Panama Canal, and is scheduled for completion in 2014, the year of the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Canal.
South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries will provide the valves for the new Panama Canal locks.
Hyundai signed a contract with Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), under which Hyundai will design, provide materials, build and install these components for the new locks.
These valves are located at the gates and water basins.
Holland's N.R. Koeling and North American company North Star Ice Equipment will carry out the project to provide industrial concrete refrigeration equipment.
The equipment will be used by the “Grupo Unidos por el Canal” (GUPC) consortium in its construction of the new set of locks for the Panama Canal.
N.R. Koeling will supply two large flake ice facilities to support the concrete production process.
The supply contract calls for approximately 500 thousand tons of cement.
CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: CX) announced the signing of a supply contract with “Consorcio Grupo Unidos por el Canal”, the primary contractor for the construction of the third set of locks of the Panama Canal expansion project.
The CEMEX contract represents an integral phase of the Canal expansion project, which includes two locks, the excavation of access channels to the new locks and the widening and deepening of navigational channels.
The Colombian company Argos Cement has signed a contract to provide cement and other products to support the canal expansion.
According to information provided by Argos, the cement will be produced at the company’s Panama site, complemented as necessary by additional volume from the plant Argos has in Cartagena, Colombia.
The company plans to begin supplying cement in December and will continue until the first quarter of 2014.
The consortia leaded by Sacyr Vallehermoso will conclude excavations works at the Panama Canal Expansion in early 2012, one year ahead of schedule.
Despite the considerable time gained in the excavation phase, the entire project will only be ready a couple of weeks earlier. According to the contract, the contractor’s deadline is October 21st, 2014.