Newsletter-21

178 NEWSLETTER 2016 circumstances, the parties may not provide additional claims, defenses or evidence. A party having participated in the arbitration proceedings without raising any objections as to the Rules, conduct of arbitration proceed- ings, orders given by the arbitrator(s), or the composition or appoint- ment of arbitrator(s), shall be deemed to have waived such objections. In principle, the arbitrators shall render their award on the merits within six months starting from the approval of the terms of refer- ence. The swift resolution of proceedings is a need that arose in the practice of arbitration, which also constitutes one of the objectives of the ISTAC. This matter will be raised again under our discussions, be- low, governing expedited arbitrations. Notwithstanding this, however, through the agreement of the parties, or the request of the arbitrator(s), or ex officio, the Court is authorized to grant extensions to this period. The award shall, among others, contain the operative part and its justification. The award shall be transmitted to the Secretariat, who shall communicate the award to the parties, provided that the costs of arbitration are paid in its entirety. The arbitral award shall be binding on the parties. Clerical or computational errors in the awards may be corrected by the arbitrator(s) at their own initiative within 30 days. The parties may request that the award is interpreted, or any clerical or computational errors in the award are corrected, within the same period. Likewise, they may apply to the Secretariat with the request of complementary awards for matters that have been raised during the proceedings which have not been resolved in the Award. In the event the parties reach a settlement during the arbitration proceedings, upon the request of the parties and acceptance of the arbitrator(s), the settlement can be made in the form of an award. The retraction of arbitration, settlement of parties, lack of neces- sity or impossibility to continue proceedings, failure to pay the advance for costs of arbitration, or the arbitral award shall end the arbitration proceedings.