Amendment to the Act on Arbitration

(Act No. 448/2001 Coll. amending and supplementing the Act No. 218/1996 Coll. on Arbitration and on amendment of certain other acts)

The amendment stipulates that entrepreneurs and other participants of business relations can agree in the arbitration agreement, or in the arbitration clause of the agreement which regulates their mutual business relations, that property disputes which have arisen or will arise between them and hearing and settlement of which belongs to jurisdiction of a court will be decided by one or more arbitrators nominated from the persons registered in the list of arbitrators of the permanent Court of Arbitration or by an unlisted person.

The arbitrator can be appointed for an individual case of business relations between the parties (ad hoc arbitrator) or a specified range of business relations between the parties.

Under the present wording of the Act on Arbitration, an undertaking of the parties that they will obey an arbitral award had to be a part of the arbitration agreement. The amendment stipulates that in case of a dispute arisen in international business relations the undertaking of the parties to obey the arbitral award is not a necessary prerequisite of the arbitration agreement. In such case this duty was redundant because the Slovak Republic as the ascending state of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic is bound by an International Treaty on the European Convention on Business Arbitration and enforceability of arbitral awards in business relations arises directly out of this Convention.

Arbitrators settle disputes relating to property according to legal order of the Slovak Republic and act in accordance with the Act on Arbitration, if it is not stipulated otherwise by this Act.

The amendment to the Act on Arbitration expressly stipulates that arbitral proceedings are always one instance proceedings.

In order not to obstruct the purpose of the arbitral proceedings, the amendment explicitly introduces impermissibility of an appeal against arbitral awards in court proceedings in accordance with the fact that the arbitral proceedings are based on an agreement of parties to a dispute.

Since in practice of Courts of Arbitration mistakes or errors can occur and the arbitral award has a character of final decision, it is necessary to allow the parties to the dispute to claim for remedy within a special application for examination of the award. Therefore, the amendment stipulates a possibility of examination of the award, according to which the parties to the dispute can agree in the arbitration agreement that the issued award of the arbitration body can be examined by another arbitrator or other arbitrators upon an application of any party to the dispute, whereas the names of arbitrators must be stated in the arbitration agreement. This possibility is put at disposal of the parties to the dispute. An arrangement between the parties in the arbitration agreement is a condition of the use of this procedural institute. In case it is not agreed in the arbitration agreement by the parties, the examination of the award is excluded in accordance with the amendment of the Act on Arbitration.

An application for examination of the award can be filed by a party to the dispute within 15 days after delivery of the award. In the same arbitral proceedings a party to the dispute may file an application for examination of the award only once.

The examination of the award is a part of the arbitral proceedings.

In connection with the amendment of the Act on Arbitration also the Act on Commercial Lawyers has been amended, according to which the Association of Commercial Lawyers can establish and can keep, at its own costs, a permanent Court of Arbitration for settlement of disputes relating to property arising from business relations pursuant to the Act on Arbitration.

At the same time, in accordance with the amendment to the Act on the Chamber of Agriculture and Food of the Slovak Republic, which has been adopted in connection with the amendment to the Act on Arbitration, the Chamber of Agriculture and Food of the Slovak Republic can establish and can keep, at its own costs, a permanent Court of Arbitration for settlement of disputes relating to property arising from business relations pursuant to the Act on Arbitration.

This Act is in force from 29 November 2001.

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