SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Jose Piñeiro, Natàlia Ros and Laura Martín, Cases & Lacambra
• Where more than one claimant or respondent is involved, the claimants will appoint one arbitra - tor and the respondents will appoint another. If claimants or respondents cannot agree on the appointment, all arbitrators will be appointed by the competent judicial court at the request of any of the parties. If the arbitration is administered by an arbitration insti - tution, the latter will apply its own rules for appointing arbitrators. 4.3 Court Intervention As stated in Article 8.1 of the SAA, the Spanish courts will intervene in the selection of the arbitrators when it has not been possible to appoint the arbitrator(s) by the method stipulated by the parties, in the following cases: • when the arbitration should be overseen by a single arbitrator and the arbitrator could not be determined in accordance with the stipulations agreed by the parties; • when the arbitration should be overseen by three arbitrators but one of the parties has not selected the corresponding arbitrator within a period of 30 days; or • when there are several plaintiffs or defendants and they do not reach an agreement on appointing an arbitrator. 4.4 Challenge and Removal of Arbitrators The SAA is flexible in relation to the procedure for challenging arbitrators. It allows the parties to agree on the challenge procedure they deem most appro - priate. However, in the absence of an agreement, the party challenging an arbitrator shall state the reasons for the challenge within 15 days of becoming aware of the acceptance or of any circumstances that may give rise to justifiable doubts as to the arbitrator’s impartiality or independence. Unless the challenged arbitrator withdraws from their position or the other party accepts the challenge, it shall be for the arbitrators to decide on the challenge.
The grounds on which the arbitrators may be chal - lenged must be based on whether there are circum - stances giving rise to justifiable doubts as to their impartiality or independence, or as to whether they possess the qualifications agreed upon by the parties. 4.5 Arbitrator Requirements The arbitrator must be impartial and independent. To avoid being challenged, they must remain independ - ent and impartial throughout the arbitration (Article 17.1, SAA). Despite the fact that no definitions of independence and impartiality are established in Spanish law, they usually consist of maintaining the absence of any per - sonal, professional or commercial relationship with the parties, and should an arbitrator have any impediment that prevents them from meeting these requirements, they must disclose this information at the time of their appointment and without delay. In this regard, we must point out that the Spanish Arbitration Club approved the Code of Best Practice, which includes recommendations regarding the arbi - trators’ standards of independence. In accordance with Article 22 of the SAA, the arbi - trators appointed in an arbitration procedure are fully empowered to decide on their own jurisdiction (the competence-competence principle). This includes the power to decide if the arbitration agreement exists or if it is valid. 5.2 Circumstances for Court Intervention A court may address issues of jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal if a party files a claim with the court despite the fact that the parties have agreed on an arbitration clause. In this case, the defendant could file a motion for lack of jurisdiction invoking the existence of the arbitration agreement and could request the court to refrain from ruling on the matter. All of this is settled in accordance with Article 11.1 of the SAA and Article 63 of the Spanish Civil Procedure Law. 5. Jurisdiction 5.1 Challenges to Jurisdiction
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