LUXEMBOURG Law and Practice Contributed by: Emilie Waty and Kloris Vjerdha, KLEYR_GRASSO
4.3 Court Intervention Under the Luxembourg Arbitration Law, state courts and more specifically the supporting judge may inter - vene in the appointment of arbitrators solely in dero - gation of the default procedure, which provides that it is in the parties’ discretion to select the arbitrators who will decide on the dispute (see 4.2 Default Pro- cedures ). As noted in 1.4 National Courts , the institution of the supporting judge represents a novel feature intro - duced by the 2023 arbitration reform, which confers upon the President of the District Court the authority to make limited and targeted interventions during the arbitration proceedings with the aim of facilitating the overall arbitration process. For instance, where the parties are unable to agree on the appointment of arbitrators and in the absence of an administering authority, it falls within the com - petence of the supporting judge to do so in order to enable the proceedings to resume. Moreover, in cases where the arbitration agreement is deemed null and void due to the non-arbitrable nature of the dispute or where for any other reason the arbitration agreement is manifestly null and/or inap - plicable, the supporting judge shall issue a decision declaring that no appointment of arbitrators shall be made. This decision is, however, subject to an appeal. As such, the intervention of the supporting judge is reserved solely for instances where it is necessary in order to ensure the continuation of the arbitration proceedings. 4.4 Challenge and Removal of Arbitrators Prior to accepting their mandate, arbitrators must disclose in a timely manner any circumstances likely to raise legitimate doubts regarding their impartiality and/or independence. Similarly, the designated arbi - trators are required to promptly notify the parties of any such circumstances that may arise subsequent to their appointment. Under Article 1228-7 of the NCCP, an arbitrator may only be challenged and ultimately be recused in cases where their impartiality and/or independence is put
into question or where the parties establish that the arbitrator does not meet the necessary qualification requirements set by those parties. Article 1228-8 of the NCCP provides that the recusal of an arbitrator shall be carried out following the unan - imous agreement of the parties. Where such unanim - ity cannot be reached, the recusal of the arbitrator in question shall be determined by the administrative authority or, in the absence thereof, the supporting judge, who shall be seized within one month from the As provided under the Luxembourg Arbitration Law, arbitrators are required to maintain independence and impartiality throughout the proceedings. Accordingly, any behaviour that may raise legitimate doubts as to an arbitrator’s impartiality and/or independence may constitute valid grounds for that arbitrator’s recusal. The LAC Rules, which are applicable in disputes submitted before the LAC, offer further clarifications detailing the specific requirements concerning the independence and impartiality of the arbitrators. Specifically, Article 10.10 of the LAC Rules provides that before their appointment, prospective arbitrators shall: • sign a statement of acceptance, availability, impar - tiality and independence; • disclose in writing to the Secretariat any facts or circumstances which might be of such nature as to call into question the prospective arbitrator’s inde - pendence in the eyes of the parties; and • disclose any circumstances that could give rise to reasonable doubts as to the prospective arbitra - tor’s impartiality. discovery of the litigious facts. 4.5 Arbitrator Requirements Further, if a circumstance arises in the course of the arbitration proceedings that is of such nature as to put into question an arbitrator’s impartiality and/or inde - pendence, the arbitrator shall immediately inform the Secretariat in writing.
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