On 18 April 2023, the German Federal Ministry of Justice published its „Guidelines on the modernization of German Arbitration Law“ (Guidelines)[1], proposing twelve potential changes to the current rules. Those changes, together with the proposed introduction of commercial courts[2], are aimed at strengthening Germany as a place for international commercial disputes. The Guidelines are based on a report by a working group which had been tasked with the review of German arbitration law back in…
Arbitration proceedings are becoming increasingly complex.[1] Pleadings are getting longer. Written evidence and the taking of evidence in…
Germany is a Model Law country. As a result, German Law provides for only limited grounds to set…
A. LEGISLATION AND RULES A.1 Legislation Already in the 2017-2018 edition of this Yearbook, we had reported about a working group tasked with a review of German arbitration law.[1] Based on the findings of the working group, the German Federal Ministry of Justice intended to present a draft bill for the reform of German arbitration law in 2021.[2] For various reasons, the reform was delayed, but the ministry recently resumed its work. It confirmed that…
The arbitrability of disputes concerning the validity and existence of patents has always been the subject of debate.…
One year ago, the Higher Regional Court Frankfurt decided that the Achmea-decision[1] by the Court of Justice of…
A. LEGISLATION AND RULES A.1 Legislation In the 2017-2018 edition of this Yearbook, we reported about a working group that had been tasked with a review of German arbitration law.[1] After the working group had submitted its findings to the German Federal Ministry of Justice, the Ministry wanted to present a draft bill for the reform of German arbitration law before the end of the 19th legislative period in December 2021.[2] The Ministry did not…
In a recent decision, the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt defined the requirements and limits in which the…
Parties often chose arbitration over state court litigation because arbitral proceedings are more flexible and more efficient. Parties…
In its Achmea-decision,[1] the ECJ decided that EU member states must not settle their disputes in arbitration proceedings agreed upon in bilateral intra-EU investment treaties (here: the BIT between the Netherlands and Slovakia) (see https://www.globalarbitrationnews.com/ecj-stops-investment-arbitration-intra-eu/). The Higher Regional Court Frankfurt recently had to deal with the question whether the ruling in Achmea is transferable to other intra-EU-BITs, namely the BIT between Croatia and Austria.[2] In this case, the investors argued that the Achmea-decision was based on…