The Belgian Parliament has recently adopted a new Law which reforms the procedural rules applicable to arbitration proceedings in Belgium, as set out in Section VI of the Belgian Judicial Code.
The new law, which is likely to enter into force on 1 September 2013, is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (www.uncitral.org).
Amongst the new features introduced by the Law are a new definition of arbitrability, a re-statement of the basic principles to be respected in any arbitration, modifications to the rules on challenges to the arbitrators, new rules on provisional measures and a reinforcement of the co-operation between the Arbitral Tribunal and the State Courts.
The rules regarding the setting-aside of arbitral awards are made significantly stricter and any application to set aside will now have to be made on limited grounds to one of five specified First Instance courts and any right to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal is abolished.
The new Law will complement the recent changes made to the CEPANI Rules of Arbitration (see Belgium – New Cepani Arbitration Rules (http://lgl.kn/72bb1).
The new draft law, as adopted, is available in French and Dutch via the link : http://lgl.kn/4bb39
Charles Price
