FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyum Lee, Florian Dessault, Hannah Cobbett and Claire Gonzalez, BDGS Associés
BDGS Associés 51 rue François 1er 75008 Paris France
Tel: +33 1 42 99 22 22 Fax: +33 1 42 99 22 41 Email: contact@bdgs-associes.com Web: www.bdgs-associes.com
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration
de Médiation et d’Arbitrage de Paris , CMAP) and the European Court of Arbitration located in Strasbourg. Specialised arbitration institutions also exist in France: for example, the French Arbitration Centre for Rein - surance and Insurance ( Centre Français d’Arbitrage de Reassurance et d’Assurance , CEFAREA), the Paris Maritime Arbitration Chamber (La Chambre Arbitrale Maritime de Paris) and the Arbitration Chamber for Mass Retail ( Chambre Arbitrale de la grande distribu- tion , CAGD) The Arbitration Chamber for Mass Retail was created on 18 June 2024 and has signed an exclusive partner - ship agreement with the CAIP. 1.4 National Courts French law establishes a supporting judge acting to ensure the efficiency of arbitral proceedings and resolve procedural difficulties, notably disputes relat - ing to the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. Article 1505 of the French Civil Procedure Code specifies that, unless provided otherwise, in international arbi - tration, the supporting judge is the chairperson of the Tribunal judiciaire of Paris. The International Commercial Chamber of the Par - is Commercial Court and the Paris Court of Appeal (ICCP-CA), created in 2018, are specialised chambers for international business disputes. The ICCP-CA has jurisdiction to handle set-aside proceedings and appeals against decisions refusing the enforcement of an international arbitral award issued in France (Arti - cle 1523 of the French Civil Procedure Code). The judges in the chamber are all fluent in English; hear -
It has become widespread practice for parties to French law-governed cross-border matters of sig - nificant value to submit their disputes to international arbitration, predominantly choosing the arbitration rules of the International Chamber of Commerce. This preference is driven by the possibility of keeping the arbitration proceedings confidential, the speed and digitalisation of arbitration proceedings compared to litigation, the flexibility offered in terms of appointment of arbitrators and choice of procedural rules, and the pro-arbitration nature of French law (ease of enforce - ment of the arbitration award before the French courts and relative non-interference of French courts in the
arbitration process). 1.2 Key Industries
The key industries in France for international arbitra - tion proceedings are construction, energy, industry and digital technologies. Disputes most often relate to contractual breaches or brutal termination of estab -
lished commercial relationships. 1.3 Arbitration Institutions
The key arbitration institution in France is the Interna - tional Chamber of Commerce’s International Court of Arbitration (ICC). Apart from the ICC, France has other arbitration institutions such as the French Association for Arbitration ( Association Française d’Arbitrage ), the Regional Chamber of Arbitration ( Chambre Régionale d’Arbitrage ), the International Arbitration Chamber of Paris ( Chambre Arbitrale Internationale de Paris , CAIP), the Paris Centre of Mediation and Arbitration ( Centre
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