ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Cosmin Vasile and Violeta Saranciuc, Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners
the arbitration. National courts – namely the Court of Appeal whose jurisdiction covers the seat of the arbi - tration – also adjudicate the set-aside proceedings.
fee scales by increasing the costs of CICA arbitration proceedings.
3. The Arbitration Agreement 3.1 Enforceability
2. Governing Legislation 2.1 Governing Law
Under Romanian law, an arbitration agreement must be concluded in writing in order to be valid. How - ever, the Code of Civil Procedure broadly defines this requirement to include electronic communications or any means of communication establishing the text of the agreement. Concerning requirements other than the form of the contract (such as the capacity to conclude agree - ments and consent), the arbitration agreement is valid provided that it fulfils the validity requirements stipu - lated under one of the following laws: • the law agreed by the parties; • the law governing the subject matter of the dis - pute; • the law applicable to the contract comprising the arbitration clause; or • Romanian law. 3.2 Arbitrability A dispute can be referred to international arbitration provided that: • it is patrimonial in nature, meaning that the dispute refers to an economic relation that can be evalu - ated monetarily; • it deals with rights the parties may freely dispose of (this excludes disputes over personal civil status and legal capacity, inheritance and family matters, and labour law disputes); and • it falls outside the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts pursuant to the law of the seat of arbitration. Under these circumstances, exempt from arbitration are any disputes that are not of a patrimonial nature, such as civil status litigations, litigations in respect of capacity, inheritance litigations and family litiga - tions, as well as litigations regarding rights that the parties cannot dispose of (eg, in matters of labour and employment litigation where the law expressly
The main body of law governing international arbitra - tion is included in the Code of Civil Procedure, which came into force on 15 February 2013. Title IV of Book VII (International Arbitration and the Effects of For - eign Arbitral Awards) sets out specific legal provisions regarding international arbitration and the effects of foreign arbitral awards, which are supplemented by a general set of provisions included in Book IV of the Code of Civil Procedure (On Arbitration); these are applicable to international arbitration whenever the parties have not agreed on certain aspects by means of the arbitration agreement and have not vested the arbitral tribunal with settling those aspects either. Romania does not have UNCITRAL Model Law-based legislation. However, the institutions within the newly enacted legislation follow the outline and spirit of the Model Law, but a specific analysis of each provision would have to be performed in order to determine the The applicable legislation is the new Code of Civil Procedure, which was enacted on 15 February 2013. No significant changes have been implemented in regard to international arbitration law, and no reforms are expected in the near future. A relatively recent development that is worth noting, albeit not a legislative one, relates to the enactment of a revised set of arbitration rules by CICA, which entered into force on 1 January 2025. The most nota - ble changes set remote hearings and party-appointed experts as default rules (previously, experts were, as a rule, appointed by the arbitral tribunal), introduce dis - closure of third-party funders, clarify the procedure for challenging arbitrators and experts, streamline case management and set clearer boundaries between the written and oral phases of arbitration proceed - ings. With the revised rules, CICA has also revised its exact influence of the Model Law. 2.2 Changes to National Law
767 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook