LUXEMBOURG Law and Practice Contributed by: Emilie Waty and Kloris Vjerdha, KLEYR_GRASSO
(LCIA), the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) and the Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (CEPANI) are frequently employed in international arbitration cases in Luxembourg. To further strengthen Luxembourg’s collaboration with foreign arbitral institutions, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in 2022 signed, along with CEPANI, the Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI), the Dutch Arbi - tration Association (DAA) and the LAA, a co-operation agreement to promote arbitration in the Benelux area. 1.4 National Courts In Luxembourg, there are no specialised courts expressly designated to adjudicate disputes relating to international or domestic arbitration. Where an arbitra - tion proceeding is pending, state courts are required to stay any identical cases submitted to them. However, the Luxembourg Arbitration Law provides for the involvement of state courts in support of the arbitration process, particularly through the role of the supporting judge ( juge d ’ appui ), as set out in Arti - cles 1229 and 1230 of the NCCP, which is inspired by French law. The Luxembourg provisions are also consistent with the Model Law on International Com - mercial Arbitration adopted in 1985 by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (the “UNCITRAL Model Law”), which has been transposed in over 100 countries and aims to harmonise arbitra - tion law internationally. The supporting judge, who is the President of the Dis - trict Court sitting as in summary matters ( Président du Tribunal d ’ arrondissement siégeant comme en matière de référé ), may be seized either by one of the parties, by the arbitral tribunal or by one of its members, and has jurisdiction where any of the following conditions are met: • the seat of the arbitration is Luxembourg; • the parties have agreed that the arbitration will be governed by Luxembourg procedural rules; • the parties have expressly conferred jurisdiction upon the Luxembourg courts in matters related to arbitration; or • the dispute bears a significant link with Luxem - bourg.
In addition, the supporting judge may also intervene in various aspects of the arbitral proceedings in order to facilitate the process, such as in the appointment of arbitrators (see 4.3 Court Intervention ) as well as in the issuance of interim and conservatory measures (see 6.2 Role of Courts ).
2. Governing Legislation 2.1 Governing Law
The Luxembourg rules governing arbitration are codi - fied within a dedicated section of the NCCP, specifi - cally in Articles 1224 to 1251, as amended by the Luxembourg Arbitration Law which entered into force on 19 April 2023. The Luxembourg Arbitration Law establishes manda - tory provisions governing the conduct of arbitration. These include provisions on the matters that can be submitted to arbitration, the circumstances under which an arbitral award might be set aside and the enforcement of arbitration awards by an order of the President of the District Court, as well as the matters that are expressly excluded from arbitration. Historically, the arbitration framework in Luxembourg was primarily inspired by French law. Presently, the Luxembourg Arbitration Law is also significantly influ - enced by the UNCITRAL Model Law. Although the Luxembourg Arbitration Law and the UNCITRAL Model Law are largely aligned, certain nuances persist. For instance, the 2023 arbitration reform introduced a maximum duration of six months for the conduct of arbitral proceedings, a procedural requirement that is not included in the UNCITRAL Model Law. 2.2 Changes to National Law On 19 April 2023, Luxembourg undertook a reform of its arbitration law, aimed at modernising the existing legal framework and aligning it with the expectations of market actors as well as international standards in alternative dispute resolution. The new text applies, in principle, to arbitration agreements concluded subse - quent to 25 April 2023.
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