The International Chamber of Commerce today announced that the arbitration proceedings between the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and British American Racing (BAR) have been concluded. The Arbitrators upheld the rule introduced by the FIA requiring Formula One teams to present their cars in substantially the same liveries.

BAR initiated legal proceedings in December 1998 in an effort to protect its commercial rights. While the outcome of the arbitration process was not in its favour, the team accepted the ruling positively. Craig Pollock, Managing Director of British American Racing, stated, "We accept the decision from the Arbitrators and we will abide by this ruling. We thought it important to take this position in order to protect our ability to raise funding for the team, but now we must move on to other priorities."

The cars will be presented in new liveries which comply with this rule at the first race of the season in Australia. "You can be assured that our new livery designs will be innovative, creative and representative of the first-class image of the sport, our team and our sponsors," said Pollock.