ROMANIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Cosmin Vasile and Violeta Saranciuc, Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners
1963 the European Convention on International Com - mercial Arbitration of 21 April 1961. The decision also does not affect the activity of the Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CICA) or that of the local arbitral institu - tions attached to the county chambers of commerce across Romania. The authority of the national and county chambers of commerce to establish arbitral institutions is provided in Law no. 335/2007 on cham - bers of commerce in Romania. The Main Home-Based Arbitral Institution Has Modern Arbitration Rules Promoting the Use of Electronic Means and Remote Hearings The main local arbitral institution, CICA, has adopted a revised set of arbitration rules in force as of 1 Janu - ary 2025. The main changes concern a wider adoption of elec - tronic and remote means in conducting the proceed - ing and a shift in the approach of this arbitral institu - tion to expert evidence, with party-appointed experts becoming the norm under the revised rules. Under the previous rules, tribunal-appointed experts were the default rule, unless the parties agreed otherwise. Under the revised rules, the Romanian arbitral institu - tion aims to encourage the parties to organise hear - ings remotely as much as possible. The party request - ing an in-person appearance must provide reasons for such a request. This represents a great leap forward for the use of technology in international arbitration and will be appreciated by arbitration users that prefer online proceedings. With a pronounced preference for remote hearings, CICA now claims its place as one of the most forward-looking arbitral institutions in the region. The revised rules also aim to streamline the proceed - ings by eliminating frequent procedural hearings, encouraging arbitral tribunals to consult parties on procedural issues by using remote means of com - munication, including email. A number of changes aim to make the procedure more efficient and increase the importance of the case
management conference organised at the beginning of the arbitration, when the procedural framework is discussed and the structure of the proceedings is decided. The revised rules also introduce the duty to disclose third-party funding. Along with the revision of its rules, CICA has also increased the arbitration costs for arbitrations con - ducted under its auspices. For claims valued in euros, the minimum arbitrator fee for an amount in dispute below EUR20,000 is now EUR500 (as opposed to EUR400 in the previous fee scale) and the admin - istrative fee of the institution is now EUR1,000 (as opposed to EUR800 previously). At the opposite end of the scale, for claims exceeding EUR2 million, the fee per arbitrator is now EUR29,800 plus 0.4% of the amount in dispute that exceeds EUR2 million, and the administrative fee is EUR30,300 plus 0.4% of the amount in dispute that exceeds EUR2 million. The revision of the CICA rules is of particular interest in the Romanian public procurement infrastructure sec - tor, where model contracts concluded by contracting authorities with local and foreign contractors currently provide for resolution of disputes through CICA arbi - tration. Hence a big share of CICA’s caseload currently consists of high-stakes construction and infrastruc - ture arbitrations involving state entities. Courts Confirm Favourable Approach to Enforcement of Arbitral Awards in Romania Romanian courts are arbitration-friendly and regularly take a pro-enforcement stance in proceedings for the recognition of foreign arbitral awards. A notable recent example of the courts’ co-operation is a decision by the Bucharest Court of Appeal con - firming that insolvency judges, despite their narrow competence, have jurisdiction to hear applications for the recognition of foreign arbitral awards in the framework of insolvency proceedings. Hence, award creditors may participate in insolvency proceedings against award debtors without undue delay and with - out having to prior undergo separate proceedings for the recognition of the foreign arbitral award in Roma - nia. The decision is a valuable solution to the inherent time constraints that exist in the context of enforcing claims against insolvent debtors.
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