DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Jakob Lentz, Johannes Grove Nielsen, Camilla Hudson and Rasmus Schmidt, Bech-Bruun
Bech-Bruun Gdanskgade 18 DK-2150 Nordhavn Denmark Tel: +45 72 27 00 00 Fax: +45 72 27 00 27
Email: info@bechbruun.com Web: www.bechbruun.com
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration
supplies from 2018, known as AB 18), where arbitra - tion is the default dispute resolution option. 1.2 Key Industries Statistics on the use of arbitration in general are not available in Denmark; however, the DIA posts statistics on cases filed with it. The latest statistics published by the DIA for 2025 show that the most dominant sectors are industry, telecommunications and information technology, commerce, building and construction, finance and insurance, transport and energy, while the remaining cases are spread across a variety of industries. Divided by subject matter, the statistics indicate that the largest categories are shareholders’ agreements, M&A, purchase agreements, co-operation agree - ments and service agreements. Approximately one- fourth of the cases commenced at the DIA in 2025 are characterised as international arbitration. Naturally, international arbitration cases would be most com - mon in industries with prevalent cross-border activi - ties, engagements, etc. The 2025 statistics show that the total caseload decreased slightly from 2024 to 2025 – from 142 cas - es in total in 2024 to 134 in 2025 – while international arbitration cases rose from 30 to 37 – reaching the highest level of international arbitration cases since 2021. This suggests a strengthening of the DIA’s inter - national arbitration activity. 1.3 Arbitration Institutions The DIA has existed as an institution for arbitration since 1894. The DIA in its current form was created as a non-profit, self-governing institution in 1981. Unlike
Solving legal disputes before a tribunal outside the state-established court system has been accepted and recognised in Denmark for centuries. However, the use of arbitration as a method for dispute reso - lution has grown in popularity since the enactment of the first comprehensive act regulating arbitration in 1972. The possibility of confidentiality, the parties’ ability to influence the appointment of arbitrators, the expediency of proceedings, the finality of the arbitra - tion award, the expertise of the arbitrators and global enforcement opportunities are among the main fac - tors driving this increased popularity, particularly in commercial disputes. International arbitration in Denmark is most prevalent in disputes between professional parties, where one party is domiciled in Denmark and the other parties are from other countries. However, since 2022, there has been an increase in purely international cases with no Danish parties referred to arbitration under Danish law, pursuant to the rules of both the Danish Institute of Arbitration (DIA) and the Nordic Offshore and Mari - time Arbitration Association (NOMA). An arbitration agreement is also found in many of the agreed documents most commonly used in Denmark. For example, most agreements regarding construction projects pertain to arbitration, as these agreements often refer to agreed documents (the general condi - tions for consulting services for building and construc - tion works from 2018, known as ABR 18 or general conditions for building and construction works and
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