AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl, Katrin Hanschitz, Kirstin McGoldrick and Natascha Tunkel, KNOETZL
• The award deals with a dispute not covered by the arbitration agreement, contains decisions on mat- ters beyond the scope of the arbitration agreement or exceeds the relief requested; if the defect con- cerns only a part of the award that can be sepa- rated, only that part of the award shall be set aside. • The composition or constitution of the arbitral tribunal was contrary to a provision of Austrian arbitration law or with a permissible agreement of the parties. • The arbitral proceedings were conducted in a man- ner that conflicts with the fundamental values of the Austrian legal system (procedural ordre public ). • The decision was based on a fraudulent action or forged document or a criminal verdict that has since been reversed (the three-month period to file the action for setting aside does not apply to this ground). • The subject matter of the dispute is not arbitrable under Austrian law. • The arbitral award conflicts with the fundamental values of the Austrian legal system (substantive ordre public ). Additional grounds are available if a consumer or an employee is involved. Otherwise, the grounds are exhaustive. It is firmly established in the case law of the Austrian Supreme Court that there is no révision au fond of the merits of the case. An action to set aside an award is filed with the Aus- trian Supreme Court, which decides as first and last instance (ie, without possibility of a further appeal). Practice has shown that a well-reasoned decision will be rendered within a comparatively short period of six to eight months on average. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration Jurisdiction on Enforcement Under Austrian law, arbitral awards are deemed equiv- alent to judgments of state courts and will be enforced the same way by means of application to the District Court where: • the award debtor has its seat; or
• the object, asset or third-party debtor, which shall serve to satisfy the award creditor, is registered or located. Prerequisites An authenticated original or a duly certified copy of the arbitral award must be submitted together with the application for enforcement. The original or a cer- tified copy of the arbitration agreement must only be presented upon a request by the court. If the seat of arbitration was outside Austria, the award will first require formal recognition and be declared enforceable by the District Court that is competent for enforcement. The application for recognition can be made together with the request for enforcement, and the courts will decide simultaneously on both requests. After being declared enforceable, the for- eign award is treated as a domestic arbitral award – ie, equivalent to the judgment of an Austrian Court. Recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards (ie, where the seat of arbitration was outside Austria) is governed by international treaties to which Austria is a party, including: • the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards; • the Geneva Convention on the Execution of For- eign Arbitral Awards; • the European Convention on International Com- mercial Arbitration; and • the Washington Convention on Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States. 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform Currently there are no active proposals for dispute resolution reform. 14.2 Growth Areas Please refer to the Austria Trends & Developments chapter in this guide. Insolvency-related litigation is still on the rise in Austria. AI-supported services are also booming. While the class actions newly imple-
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