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Seed planted for new IAMA appointment

Australasian Legal Business - June 2005

The Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia (IAMA) has been appointed by the Australian Seed Federation (ASF) to provide dispute resolution services for the multi-billion dollar Australian seed industry.

The IAMA has tailored and will manage a dispute resolution scheme for the ASF, the seed industry's peak body, which is designed to cover disputes between members as well as disputes between members and external parties.

"I have no doubt that Australian seed companies will attract greater business as a direct result of IAMA coming on board," said ASF CEO, Christopher Melham.

The Institute has also been appointed as the ASF's exclusive Australian arbitration chamber for international disputes regarding trade in seeds, and intellectual property rights in plant breeding.

"The ASF's initiative is a recognition of the flexibility that alternative dispute resolution offers the Australian agricultural and trade sectors, domestically and internationally," said Robert Hunt, Sydney barrister and past president of the Institute, who developed the dispute resolution scheme.

Previously, ASF's was self-regulated under the National Code of Practice, and domestic dispute resolution services were provided and managed by the ASF. The code has now been repealed. ASF decided to outsource the dispute resolution services to a non-government and independent third party service provider when it recognised the potential for conflicts of interest in self-regulating, and its inexperience in conflict management systems.

We gratefully acknowledge the permission from Australasian Legal Business to reprint this article.