Upon receipt of a Claim filed by a State, the Executive Director shall:
- Record the date and time of receipt (and send acknowledgement of receipt to State, indicating date/time received);
- Notify the named Member(s) by facsimile or electronically; and
- Send a copy of the Claim by express delivery.
Upon receipt of a Claim filed by a State from the Executive Director, the Member(s) shall execute the Arbitration Agreement and return it to the Executive Director within ten calendar days after it is received.
- If the Member asserts that Article 13.3 or 14.2 of the Compact apply to the State’s Claim, the Member shall, at the time that it transmits the signed Arbitration Agreement, also transmit to the Executive Director the factual basis for that assertion.
- Pursuant to Article 4.2 of the Compact, if the Member fails to execute the Arbitration Agreement, the Executive Director acting as agent for the Member, including a Member who has given notice of withdrawal or is in default, shall execute the Arbitration Agreement on behalf of the Member.
Within twenty (20) calendar days after receipt of a Claim by the Executive Director, the Executive Director, with notice (via copy) to the State and the Member(s), shall provide the PCA with the Claim, the executed Arbitration Agreement, and all other information submitted by the State or Member, and ask the PCA to appoint a Commissioner.
- If the Executive Director does not act within this time period, the Claim and the Compact and its Appendices, including the Bylaws, may be submitted directly to the PCA by the State to initiate the process to have a Commissioner appointed.
The Commissioner must be appointed from the roster in Appendix D to the Compact, or, if no roster has been assembled, based on the minimum qualifications for a Commissioner set forth in Appendix D.
Within one hundred and twenty (120) days after receipt of the Claim(s) by the PCA, or, if a Claim has been submitted for reconsideration to the Commissioner, within sixty (60) days after the date of its submission, the Commissioner conducts an initial review of the Claim to verify that certain requirements are met:
- To verify that documentation requirements are met:
- The three requirements are
- (a) the Arbitration Agreement has been properly executed and binds the State and that the State has authority to submit the Claim to binding arbitration as set forth in the Arbitration Agreement and the Compact,
- (b) the Claim Form has been satisfactorily completed,
- (c) the State has submitted Plausible Evidence to establish each element of the Claim.
- If the Commissioner determines that the Claim does not meet the requirements in any of these respects, the Claim shall be deemed filed and the Commissioner shall return the Claim to the submitter, with sufficient explanation of the Claim’s deficiencies to facilitate amendment and submission for reconsideration to the Commissioner.
- To verify that the Claim meets the requirements of Articles 13.3 and 14.2 of the Compact if invoked by a Member.
- If the Commissioner determines that the Claim does not meet the requirements of Article 13.3 or 14.2 of the Compact, the Commissioner shall dismiss the Claim.
- If the Commissioner fails to meet either deadline, the Executive Director, the State, or the Member is entitled to inform the Secretary-General of the PCA of the failure and to request that the PCA investigate the reason for the failure, and, if necessary, appoint a new Commissioner.
- If the Commissioner’s initial review of the claim verifies that the threshold requirements are met, to facilitate conciliation, the Commissioner shall request from the named Member an answer to the Claim, and the Member shall have sixty (60) days to respond to the Commissioner’s request (or such additional time as the Commissioner may allow).
The Claims process will end when the Commissioner issues a written report stating that the Commissioner has completed its responsibilities under this Article 14.