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Friendly settlement of disputes in Lille - 01/01/2013

“Experts in friendly settlement of disputes are well located in Lille: the CAREN, of course, but also Mr Jean-Philippe TRICOIT, lecturer at the university of LILLE 2 tasked by the respected Revue de l'Abitrage with writing the “chronicle of law of the friendly settlement of disputes"

 

Adjustments of the regime of the arbitration clause

 

French Arbitration Law has made its mark at international level thanks to its originality: admission of the arbitration clause's autonomy from the rest of the contract, and affirmation of the principle of “competence-competence” according to which the arbitrator alone is competent to decide whether he is competent or not (CPC, art. 1466).

 

However, it was deemed necessary, after thirty years of practice, to reform the matter in order to consolidate some of the case-law's gains and complete them to improve its efficiency while integrating provisions inspired by certain foreign laws whose practice has proven to be useful. This is what the decree n° 2011-48 of January 13^rd 2011 (published in the Official Journal of 14 January 2011) achieves, through greater flexibility of the rules on the arbitration compromise and on the notification of arbitral awards. It unifies the legal regime governing the arbitration/compromisory clause and the arbitration compromise by incorporating them within one single definition (the Arbitration Convention) (CPC, Art. 1442). The principle of autonomy of the Arbitration Convention from the rest of the contract to which it relates is reaffirmed. This is done while taking into account the jurisprudence according to which the arbitration clause is not affected by the inefficiency of the contract.

Regarding the recognition of arbitral awards, the decree if January 13^rd 2001 establishes the rules of territorial jurisdiction for the judge responsible for the exequatur, namely the tribunal de grande instance (Regional Court) in the district of which the arbitral award was rendered in France, and tribunal de grande instance of Paris when the award was rendered abroad (CPC, Art. 1516).

Then, the decree of January 13^rd 2011 asserts the authority of the arbitral jurisdiction, mainly by allowing it to issue provisional or protective/precautionary measures, except for precautionary seizures or judgment rights. It establishes the position of the French judge as a “juge d'appui” of arbitration proceedings (assistance and supervision of arbitration proceedings). At last, it clarifies and improves the rules on appeal regarding arbitration.

 

Much of this system enters into force on May 1^st 2011.

 

Source

 

D. n° 2011-48, 13 January 2011 : Official Journal 14 January 2011, p.77