International Arbitration – 1996
1996
As parties failed to reach an agreement on the arbitrator, the President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) appointed Roberts B. Owen on 15 July 1996, as the third-party arbitrator and presiding officer of the Tribunal. After his appointment, Mr. Owen called for a preliminary conference to be held in Sarajevo on 7 August 1996. The purpose of the preliminary conference was to decide on procedural issues, including the scheduling of future proceedings. The conference took place as scheduled. There was no one representing the Republic of Srpska. The procedural rules required the entities to submit and respond to the first and second statements of each party. However, the Arbitration Commission did not receive a written statement from the Republic of Srpska. Later on, the deadline for the RS’s submission of papers was extended to 22 November at the request of the RS counsel. On 27 November 1996, both sides consented to extend the date of the Tribunal to 15 February 1997.1