Unless otherwise specified, Koda and NCB will withhold payment for four months.
If the parties reach an agreement within this period of time, Koda must receive written notification of this fact. All withheld amounts will then be paid out – usually in connection with the next standard payments made by Koda and NCB.
If the parties are undertaking private negotiations, the withholding period can be extended by another four months.
If the parties are engaging in negotiations via Koda’s offers of assistance on resolving disputes, the payments will continue to be withheld while the negotiations are going on. If these negotiations do not resolve the dispute, a new four-month period of withheld payments will commence from the time when the failure to resolve the dispute has been ascertained.
If the parties have brought the dispute before a court of law for adjudication, the payments will continue to be withheld until Koda is notified of the outcome.
Unresolved disputes
When the periods of withheld payment expire Koda will contact the parties involved in the dispute to ascertain whether the withheld payments should be released.
If no progress is made in a dispute, for example because of failure to respond on behalf of the parties involved, Koda will assess whether the withheld payments may be released. Experience shows us that in such cases Koda is often compelled to continue to withhold the payments.
