GERMANY Law and Practice Contributed by: Patricia Nacimiento, Catrice Gayer, Lara Panosch and Theo Pauthonier, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP
ings (Section 44.2). These exceptions are not exhaus - tive, and additional disclosures may be justified where overriding legitimate interests are at stake. Whether such interests prevail is assessed on a case-by-case basis.
track proceedings, between the constitution of the arbitral tribunal and the rendering of the final award. Such time limits, while contractually valid, must be approached with caution. If the agreed period lapses without an award being rendered, the arbitral tribu - nal may be deemed functus officio, thereby losing its mandate to decide the dispute. Moreover, failure to adhere to procedural timelines agreed upon by the parties may expose the award to annulment under Section 1059 (2) No. 1 (d) ZPO (Higher Regional Court Frankfurt, 17 February 2011, 26 Sch 13/10). 10.2 Types of Remedies German arbitration law imposes no inherent restric - tions on the types of remedies that may be granted in a final award. In the absence of limitations agreed upon by the parties, arbitral tribunals are empowered to award any relief that a competent state court could grant in comparable proceedings. This includes but is not limited to compensatory damages, orders for specific performance, declaratory relief and interim measures. Punitive damages, however, are contrary to German public policy ( ordre public ) and may not be awarded by a Germany-seated arbitral tribunal, even when applying the substantive law of another state. The arbitral tribunal’s authority is confined to the scope of the claims submitted by the parties. Relief granted beyond the bounds of the pleadings constitutes an ultra petita ruling, which may expose the award to annulment or refusal of enforcement under Section 1059 (2) No. 1 (c) ZPO and Article V(1)(c) of the New York Convention. 10.3 Recovering Interest and Legal Costs Under Section 1057 ZPO, arbitral tribunals in Ger - many are vested with broad discretion to allocate the costs of the proceedings, unless the parties have agreed otherwise. In exercising this discretion, arbi - tral tribunals are expected to consider all relevant cir - cumstances, with particular emphasis on the outcome of the dispute. In practice, the prevailing approach among German arbitration practitioners is to apply the “costs follow the event” principle.
10. The Award 10.1 Legal Requirements
Section 1054 ZPO sets out the formal criteria that an arbitral award must meet to be valid under German law. Specifically: • the award must be issued in written form; • the award must bear the signature of the sole arbitrator or, in the case of a three-member arbitral tribunal, of the majority of its members; • the award must state the reasons for the decision, unless the parties have agreed to dispense with this requirement; • the award must indicate both the date of the award and the seat of arbitration; and • a signed copy of the award must be delivered to each party, although German arbitration law does not prescribe a specific method of service. The Draft Bill (see 2.2 Changes to National Law ) pro - poses that awards may also be rendered in electronic form, provided that they are signed using the qualified electronic signatures of the arbitrators. As with writ - ten awards, the electronic version must be delivered to the parties, but no particular form of transmission is mandated. It is also worth noting that an arbitral tribunal’s pro - cedural decision asserting jurisdiction, such as a pre - liminary ruling, is not considered an arbitral award within the meaning of Section 1054 ZPO. It therefore does not need to comply with the formal requirements applicable to final awards (Higher Regional Court Stuttgart, 10 June 2021, 1 SchH 1/21). German arbitration law does not impose a statutory deadline for the issuance of an arbitral award. Howev - er, Section 1042 (3) ZPO permits the parties to agree on a specific timeframe, such as in expedited or fast-
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