How long your case actually takes.
Most transport claims are documentary, and documentary claims should not take years. The procedure runs one sequence and branches once: after the preparatory stage closes, a case either goes to hearings or, where you agree to none, straight to the award.
Without hearings
Where the parties agree to dispense with a hearing
The award follows the close of the preparatory stage directly. Most transport claims are documentary and belong here, and it is the faster route by a wide margin.
- Day 0You
File
You submit the request for arbitration, the contract or consignment note, and the arbitration agreement.
- Day 7Phase 1Institution
Case preparation
We confirm jurisdiction, identify the governing convention and register the case. The clock on the merits starts here.
- Day 37Phase 2You
Service and response
The request is served on the respondent, who answers and raises any counterclaim. This is a ceiling rather than a fixed period, and it closes early where the respondent engages early.
- Day 65Phase 3Tribunal
Preparatory stage
The tribunal is constituted, the issues in dispute are fixed, and documents and evidence are exchanged. Proceedings close at the end of this stage unless hearings are held.
- Day 79Phase 5Tribunal
Award
The award is binding and final. Recourse is limited to annulment on the narrow grounds in Article 42.
With hearings
Where a hearing is held
Hearings sit between the preparatory stage and the award. The phases before and after are identical to the other route, so the hearing period is the entire difference.
- Day 0You
File
You submit the request for arbitration, the contract or consignment note, and the arbitration agreement.
- Day 7Phase 1Institution
Case preparation
We confirm jurisdiction, identify the governing convention and register the case. The clock on the merits starts here.
- Day 37Phase 2You
Service and response
The request is served on the respondent, who answers and raises any counterclaim. This is a ceiling rather than a fixed period, and it closes early where the respondent engages early.
- Day 65Phase 3Tribunal
Preparatory stage
The tribunal is constituted, the issues in dispute are fixed, and documents and evidence are exchanged. Proceedings close at the end of this stage unless hearings are held.
- Day 125Phase 4Tribunal
Hearings
Held only where the parties have not agreed to dispense with them. This is a ceiling, and a documentary case that needs one day of hearing does not use the whole period.
- Day 139Phase 5Tribunal
Award
The award is binding and final. Recourse is limited to annulment on the narrow grounds in Article 42.
What moves these dates
Every figure is a maximum, not a fixed date. The response and hearing phases are ceilings and a case that moves faster finishes sooner.
Time runs from the day we register the case, not the day you first wrote to us.
Time the parties take by agreement is added, not absorbed. An extension to respond moves the award with it.
A challenge to an arbitrator, a jurisdictional objection, or a request for security suspends the merits until it is resolved.
Enforcement is separate and sits outside this timetable. Recognition before the Georgian Supreme Court has run 3 to 6 months.
This page is about how long the procedure takes. It is not your claim deadline. The date that can end your claim before it is ever heard is set by the convention, not by us.
Check your time limit