Expert Determination is a procedure in which a dispute or a difference between the parties is submitted, by agreement of the parties, to one (or more) experts who make a determination on the matter referred to it or them.
The determination is binding, unless the parties agreed otherwise and may have effect as a recommendation to the parties.
There is only a very limited basis to challenge the determination. Therefore only an expert with both relevant expertise and experience in addition to knowledge of the Determination process will be selected.
In contrast to Mediation, a party cannot unilaterally withdraw from expert determination. It is ideally suited to multi-party disputes and matters of valuation and/or which are primarily dependent on technical issues e.g. does the computer match the specification; is the malfunction due to a design or a manufacturing fault; valuations of shares; rent reviews and contract performance matters. It can also easily be used in many other areas such as insurance wording disputes, sale of goods disputes, fitness for purpose and boundary disputes.
Although Expert Determination is an Alternative Dispute Resolution process, it can also be used when there is no dispute, but there is a difference which needs to be resolved, for example, the valuation of a private business.