FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyum Lee, Florian Dessault, Hannah Cobbett and Claire Gonzalez, BDGS Associés
factors, French law adopts an economic approach centred on the cross-border movement of funds, services or assets (see above). • The method to be followed by the arbitral tribunal where the parties do not choose the substantive law applicable to their dispute: French law does not require the application of conflict-of-law rules (Article 1511 of the French Civil Procedure Code), while Article 28 of the UNCITRAL Model Law does. • The grounds for refusing recognition and enforce - ment of an award: unlike the UNCITRAL Model Law (Article 36 (1)(a)(v)), French law does not treat the setting-aside of an award by the courts at the seat as an autonomous ground for refusing recog - nition or enforcement (see 12.2 Enforcement Pro- cedure ). Recognition may nevertheless be refused on one of the grounds listed in Article 1520 of the French Civil Procedure Code. 2.2 Changes to National Law A broad reform of French arbitration law is also under consideration. A working group appointed by the Min - istry of Justice published its report on 26 March 2025. Its proposal includes the creation of a dedicated Arbi - tration Code and the consolidation and clarification of rules that are currently spread across several legisla - tive instruments. This project seeks to consolidate and clarify the legal framework applicable to both domes - tic and international arbitration, which is currently dis - persed across various legislative instruments. The draft Code aims to enhance accessibility, coher - ence and legal certainty. Key proposed changes include the codification of recent case law, closer alignment of the rules governing domestic and inter - national arbitration, and a more user-friendly structure designed to assist practitioners and promote efficien - cy. The project also contemplates the formal recog - nition of certain principles established by case law, such as the autonomy of the arbitration agreement and the “competence-competence” principle. Some proposals would also make substantive changes and have generated considerable debate. It has not yet been adopted. Following publication of the working group’s report in March 2025, on 12 December 2025 the Ministry of Justice published a draft decree constituting the
first of three planned stages of the reform. This draft decree was released for public consultation from December 2025 to January 2026, after which Decree No 2026-741 of 6 August 2026 on various measures to clarify and modernise arbitration procedure was adopted. The decree was published in the French Official Journal on 7 August 2026. The Decree will enter into force on 1 January 2027, with transitional rules determining its application according to the date of the arbitration agreement, the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal or the date of the award, depending on the provision concerned. It constitutes the first of the three planned stages of the broader reform and amends Book IV of the French Code of Civil Procedure. It notably clarifies and mod - ernises several aspects of arbitration procedure, including the competence-competence principle, the powers of the supporting judge, and the definition and digitalisation of arbitral awards. The Decree does not, however, constitute the broader overhaul contemplated by the working group’s report. In particular, it does not establish the proposed Arbi - tration Code. A number of issues remain for the sub - sequent stages of the reform. In July 2026, the Ministry of Justice also announced that a further decree would be published in the second phase of the reform.
3. The Arbitration Agreement 3.1 Enforceability
In international arbitration, there are no specific legal requirements for a valid arbitration agreement to be enforceable under French law (Article 1507 of the French Civil Procedure Code). By contrast, in domes - tic arbitration, an arbitration agreement must be in writing to be valid (Article 1443 of the French Civil Procedure Code).
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