Arbitration and disputes

The Economic Regulation Authority has established a panel from which arbitrators may be appointed to hear disputes declared under the Pilbara Networks Access Code.

Under the Code, the ERA must:

• Establish and maintain a pool of at least three commercial arbitrators from which an arbitrator may be appointed.
• Ensure that each pool member is an Australian legal practitioner as defined in the Legal Profession Act 2008, has been admitted to practice in Australia for at least 10 years, has practiced primarily in arbitration or litigation, and is suitably qualified to act as an arbitrator.
• Publish a list of pool members, setting out each arbitrator’s name, contact details and (where provided by the pool member) curriculum vitae.

The ERA may determine from time to time the process for identifying candidates to be pool members.

The ERA has established a pool of five arbitrators, contact details for which are available below.

Clause 144(1) of the Pilbara Networks Access Code provides that access disputes could be commenced from 7 January 2022.

The Pilbara Networks Access Code requires the ERA to publish information about access disputes and arbitrators' determinations under the Code. This includes publishing, at least once a year, information about the number of dispute notices lodged for that year. This information is included in the table below.