In expert appraisal procedures managed by the Arbitration Board, an amount will be charged for each expert appointed. This amount covers the Board’s administration of the case, including clarification of procedural and legal issues, management of deadlines, etc.
In addition, a fee will be payable to the expert, calculated on the basis of the time spent on the appraisal. Any costs incurred by the expert for transport, destructive interventions, recordings including photographs, etc must also be paid. The payment of expenses relating to special investigations will be agreed with the parties during case proceedings.
The party requesting expert appraisal must initially pay the costs involved.
The Arbitration Board demands payment of an initial deposit of DKK 30,000 to cover case costs. If the respondent also asks questions, the respondent will be charged an initial deposit of DKK 20,000. If it becomes apparent at an early stage of the expert appraisal process that costs such as the expert’s fee will be higher, the deposit will be adjusted accordingly. The initial deposit will in principle never be reduced.
The Arbitration Board will usually not ask an expert to initiate the appraisal until security has been provided to the Board.
At the start of the appraisal, the expert states a time frame for the preparation of the report(s), and then continuously informs the parties and the Arbitration Board if the security provided is no longer believed to be sufficient to cover the anticipated costs. The security amount will be adjusted as and when needed during the appraisal procedure.
As from 1 January 2015 a new procedure is applicable under which the cost of supplementary questions is payable by the party asking the questions. This approach means that sometimes difficult and time-consuming assessments of whether supplementary questions asked are related to an original question or not is avoided. When billing, the expert must specify the amounts charged for each individual question.
For cases filed before 1 January 2015 the system remains the same as before, which means that the party asking the original question has to pay for supplementary questions asked in relation to that question. Payment for any further additional questions will be based on a specific assessment of whether the party asking the original question or the party asking the supplementary question is to pay the costs involved.
After conclusion of the expert appraisal procedure, the parties may ask the Arbitration Board to give a non-binding view on the distribution of appraisal costs. If it proves necessary during the proceedings and the parties agree, a legal arbitrator will rule on procedural matters including the distribution of costs or decide whether a question may be submitted to the appraiser. The legal arbitrator in question will be paid on the basis of the time spent on the matter. The distribution of appraisal costs will otherwise be decided in a subsequent arbitral case, if any.
The party originally requesting the expert appraisal and that party’s legal counsel are liable for payment of the costs of the appraisal. The other party to the appraisal procedure and that party’s legal counsel are liable for payment of the proportion of costs that relates to the preparation of answers to the respondent’s non-ancillary questions and, in cases filed on or after 1 January 2015, to the preparation of answers to the respondent’s own questions.