FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyum Lee, Florian Dessault, Hannah Cobbett and Claire Gonzalez, BDGS Associés
4.4 Challenge and Removal of Arbitrators Pursuant to Article 1458 of the French Civil Proce - dure Code, an arbitrator can only be removed with the unanimous consent of the parties. However, where the parties are unable to agree on the removal of an arbitrator, the dispute is settled by the arbitral institu - tion or, in its absence, by the supporting judge, who must be seised within one month of the disclosure or discovery of the disputed fact (Article 1456 of the French Civil Procedure Code). Article 1456 further provides that an arbitrator can be challenged on the ground of a lack of independence or impartiality (see 4.5 Arbitrator Requirements ). 4.5 Arbitrator Requirements French arbitration law states that arbitrators must be independent and impartial, and requires them to disclose any circumstances likely to affect their inde - pendence or impartiality (Article 1456 of the French Civil Procedure Code). The requirement of independ - ence and impartiality as set out in Article 1456 has been defined by case law as follows. • An arbitrator’s independence is assessed objec - tively, by reference to precise and verifiable cir - cumstances external to the arbitrator that may affect their freedom of judgment and give rise to reasonable doubts in the minds of the parties, including personal, professional or economic links with a party or, in appropriate circumstances, an interested third party ( Cour de cassation , First Civil Chamber, 21 January 2026, No 24-16.719). • An arbitrator’s impartiality presupposes the absence of prejudices or biases likely to affect their judgment, which may result from multiple factors such as the arbitrator’s nationality, social, cultural or legal environment (Paris Court of Appeal, 23 April 2024, No 22/20058; Paris Court of Appeal, 25 November 2025, No 23/01617; Paris Court of Appeal, 4 May 2021, No 18/14593). An arbitrator’s lack of independence or impartiality may result in the award being set aside on the ground that the arbitral tribunal was improperly constituted and, in appropriate cases, for conflict with internation - al public policy (Article 1520 (2) and (5) of the French Civil Procedure Code).
Moreover, before accepting their assignment, the arbitrator must disclose any circumstances likely to affect their independence or impartiality (Article 1456 (2) of the French Civil Procedure Code). This obligation lasts throughout the arbitration proceedings. Accord - ingly, the arbitrator must disclose without any delay any such circumstances arising after acceptance of the assignment. The scope of the disclosure obligation has been clari - fied by case law, which holds that an arbitrator must reveal all circumstances likely to give rise to reason - able doubts in the minds of the parties as to their independence. In a further clarification of the scope of the disclosure obligation, the Cour de cassation has held that an arbitrator’s duty extends only to circumstances involv - ing an entity actually implicated in the dispute subject to arbitration. The mere mention of a company, not a party to the arbitration, as an “other concerned party” in a case information document does not, by itself, evidence such implication ( Cour de cassation , First Civil Chamber, 7 May 2025, No 21-14.162). This obligation of disclosure applies not only to rela - tions between the arbitrator and the parties but also to the relations between the arbitrator and the parties’ lawyers or their law firms, whenever the facts consid - ered are likely to affect, in the minds of the parties, the arbitrator’s independence and impartiality. Moreover, the duty of arbitrators to disclose, and to provide information to enable the parties to exercise their right to challenge, must be assessed considering the notoriety of the situation criticised, its connec - tion with the dispute and its impact on the arbitrator’s judgement (Paris Court of Appeal, 3 October 2023, No 22/06903; Paris Court of Appeal, 25 February 2020, No 19/07575; Paris Court of Appeal, 22 February 2022, No 20/08929). The main arbitration institutions likewise require arbi - trators to be independent and impartial, and impose continuing disclosure duties (Article 12 of the 2026 ICC Rules; Article 18 of the 2025 CMAP Arbitration Rules). The IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in
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