Changes to Ciarb’s Royal Charter and Bye-laws endorsed by the Privy Council

Ciarb becomes the first and only professional body with the power to award Chartered Adjudicator (C.Adj) status.

The Privy Council approved changes to Ciarb’s Royal Charter and Bye-laws at its meeting on 15 February 2023.

The endorsement by the Privy Council follows Ciarb’s September 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), at which members voted in support of the governance changes.

The changes bring Ciarb’s governance in line with best practice. They also pave the way for Ciarb to introduce a new Chartered Adjudicator designation for its most experienced adjudicator members. Work has started on preparing the application process and details will be shared with members in due course later this year.

Catherine Dixon, Director General says, “I’m delighted the Privy Council has approved the changes to Ciarb’s governance. We are intensely proud of the Royal Charter which underpins Ciarb’s purpose as a professional body for dispute resolution. The changes to the Charter and Bye-laws give us greater agility in delivering membership value to all our members in today’s global and dynamic environment. I am thrilled that we have the ability to award our most experienced adjudicator members Chartered Adjudicator status. We fully expect that C.Adj will command equal respect and recognition internationally as our C.Arb designation.”

An overview of the changes
The main changes endorsed by the Privy Council are:

Membership and Chartered Status
- Ciarb granted the ability to award the new designation of Chartered Adjudicator (C.Adj) to qualifying adjudicators.

Composition of the Board of Trustees (BoT)
- To enable up to 5 Trustees to be appointed rather than elected to ensure that Ciarb continues to have the skills and experience needed to meet its statutory obligations as a charity and Royal Chartered body.

Clearer Roles & Responsibilities
- The dissolution of the Board of Management with the ability of the Board to create sub-committees of the Board to support it in discharging its duties in key areas including Audit and Risk, Nominations and Governance, and Finance.
- Greater flexibility about the appointment of and role of the President and arrangements for Congress.
- Flexibility to arrange meetings on-line to enable global participation by members.

Catherine Dixon, now Director General finishes, “My sincere thanks to the Ciarb Board, our 43 Branches, our members, our Faculty, all our volunteers and staff involved in bringing about the essential changes we needed to ensure our governance supports the continued success of Ciarb today and into the future.”

Please contact governance@ciarb.org for further information.