LITHUANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Kęstutis Švirinas, Ieva Rimavičienė, Domantė Lunytė and Luka Tamulionytė, Sorainen
Overall, the most recurrent investor grievances in Lith- uania relate to expropriation, breaches of FET, and discriminatory or arbitrary state conduct.
of the permanent arbitral institution within 20 days following the expiry of the initial deadline. • If the two party-appointed arbitrators fail to agree on the appointment of the presiding arbitrator, the President of the permanent arbitral institution will appoint the third arbitrator within the same 20-day timeframe. • In ad hoc arbitration, if a party fails to appoint an arbitrator, or if the party-appointed arbitrators cannot agree on the chair within 20 days of their appointment, the Vilnius Regional Court will make the necessary appointment within 20 days of the relevant deadline. Regarding multiparty arbitration, Articles 14 (5) and 14 (6) of the Law on Commercial Arbitration provide a specific default mechanism: • Co-claimants must agree in writing on the appoint- ment of a joint arbitrator and submit this agreement either with the claim or within 20 days thereafter. • Co-respondents must reach a similar agreement within 20 days of receiving the request to appoint an arbitrator. • If either group fails to appoint a joint President within the prescribed timeframe, the appointment will be made by the Chairperson of the permanent arbitral institution (in institutional arbitration) or by the Vilnius Regional Court (in ad hoc arbitration), within 20 days of the deadline. 4.3 Court Intervention Under the Law on Commercial Arbitration, judicial intervention in the appointment of arbitrators is per- mitted, but only in narrowly defined circumstances, primarily in the context of ad hoc arbitration. The Vilnius Regional Court may appoint arbitrators in the following situations: • where a party fails to appoint an arbitrator within the prescribed timeframe; • where the arbitrators appointed by the parties are unable to agree on the appointment of the chair of the arbitral tribunal; or • where co-claimants or co-defendants fail to jointly appoint an arbitrator within the time limits set by the Law on Commercial Arbitration.
4. The Arbitral Tribunal 4.1 Limits on Selection
The Law on Commercial Arbitration of the Republic of Lithuania (“Law on Commercial Arbitration”) and the Rules of Arbitration of the Vilnius Court of Commercial Arbitration (“VCCA Rules”) strongly uphold the princi- ple of party autonomy in the selection of arbitrators. Parties are granted the right to agree on the procedure for appointing arbitrators. However, this autonomy is subject to certain limitations designed to safeguard the integrity of the arbitration process. Specifically, any agreement that enables one party to unilaterally appoint all arbitrators, or to appoint arbitrators who are biased, legally incapacitated or otherwise unfit, may be deemed invalid. Arbitrators must be independent and impartial, and parties may also agree on additional criteria for inde- pendence and impartiality. These requirements are fundamental to ensuring a fair and balanced arbitra- tion process. 4.2 Default Procedures The procedure for appointing arbitrators in Lithuania generally follows internationally recognised standards. Under Article 14 (4) of the Law on Commercial Arbi- tration, if the parties have agreed on a method for appointing arbitrators but one party fails to comply with that agreement, the tribunal shall be constituted according to the default procedure outlined in para- graph 3 of the same article: • If the tribunal is to consist of a sole arbitrator and the parties cannot agree on the appointment, the arbitrator shall be appointed by the President of the permanent arbitral institution upon request by either party. • If either the claimant or respondent fails to appoint an arbitrator within 20 days of receiving the claim, the arbitrator shall be appointed by the President
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