AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Florian Haugeneder, Patrizia Netal, Jurgita Petkutė and Natascha Tunkel, KNOETZL
the Austrian Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) (Sections 577‒618 of the CCP). Since 2006, the legislation governing arbitration in Austria has been largely based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (the “UNCITRAL Model Law”), with only a few minor deviations. Significantly, Austrian arbitration law does not differentiate between domestic and international arbitration. 2.2 Changes to National Law There have been no changes to Austrian arbitration law in the past year, nor are there any changes planned in the immediate future. Any discussions regarding possible legislative changes are limited to clarifica - tions (eg, regarding the delimitation of consumer and corporate disputes) and measures to reinforce Austria as an arbitration-friendly jurisdiction. Austrian law requires the arbitration agreement to identify the parties and the dispute or a defined legal relationship that are subject to the arbitration clause. Furthermore, the arbitration agreement must be in writing, either as part of a document signed by the parties or as an exchange of letters, telefax, emails or any other means of communication that provides a record of the arbitration agreement. As regards the exchange of documents, the Austrian Supreme Court has clarified that “exchanged documents” do not need to be signed, regardless of the means of com - munication used (OGH 18 OCg 1/15v and OGH 4 Ob 29/18w). Additional form requirements must be met if consumers or employees are parties to the arbitration agreements. 3.2 Arbitrability The definition of arbitrability is broad. The general rule is that pecuniary claims are usually arbitrable, where - as non-pecuniary claims are arbitrable if the parties have the capacity to enter into a settlement agreement with regard to the specific claim at issue. Disputes that fall under the competence of the administrative authorities are not arbitrable. 3. The Arbitration Agreement 3.1 Enforceability
Family law matters and all claims based on contracts that are – even only partly – subject to the Tenancy Act ( Mietrechtsgesetz ) or the Non-Profit Housing Act ( Wohnungsgemeinnützigkeitsgesetz ) cannot be made subject to an arbitration agreement, nor can claims concerning condominium property. In addition, certain (collective) labour and social security matters are not arbitrable. Disputes involving consumers or employees may only be submitted to arbitration (with additional form requirements) after the dispute has arisen. The addi - tional form requirements are extensive and lead to a very high threshold for validly concluding an arbitration agreement with consumers or employees, rendering arbitration agreements in these areas impracticable. In this context, the Austrian Supreme Court clarified that these restrictions do not extend to beneficiaries of a private foundation ( Privatstiftung ) in the event of a dispute between the beneficiaries and the foundation (OGH 18 OCg 1/21b). In 2024, the Austrian Supreme Court addressed the objective arbitrability of disputes concerning share - holder resolutions in private limited partnerships if only some, but not all, shareholders are parties to the arbitration. The Austrian Supreme Court ruled that the arbitration must ensure their inclusion. In the absence of a mechanism that includes all shareholders and ensures legal effect on them, such shareholder dis - putes are objectively not arbitrable (OGH 18 OCg 3/22y). 3.3 National Courts’ Approach Austrian arbitration law does not provide rules to determine the law applicable to the arbitration agree - ment. The Austrian Supreme Court applies the con - flict-of-laws rule contained in Article V (1) lit a of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (the “New York Conven - tion”) in order to determine the law applicable to the arbitration agreement outside the context of enforce - ment proceedings. Accordingly, the Austrian Supreme Court applies the law selected by party agreement. Such choice of law may also be agreed implicitly. A choice-of-law clause in the main contract may also extend to the arbitration agreement.
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