LEBANON Law and Practice Contributed by: Nayla Comair-Obeid, Ziad Obeid and Zeina Obeid, Obeid & Partners
adopted its arbitration rules. However, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this centre is not very active. • There are also other mediation centres that aim to develop and promote mediation in Lebanon as an alternative dispute resolution method, such as the Professional Mediation Centre operating under the auspices of the Saint Joseph University of Beirut. 13. Arbitration 13.1 Laws Regarding the Conduct of Arbitration Arbitration proceedings in Lebanon are governed by specific provisions of the LCCP, which were enacted by Decree Law 90/83, with amendments resulting from Law No 440, dated 29 July 2002. The LCCP covers the conduct of arbitration pro- ceedings as well as the enforcement and recog- nition in Lebanon of arbitral awards. In addition, Lebanon is a signatory to the New York Conven- tion of 1958 on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Awards (NY Convention) and the Wash- ington convention on the settlement of invest- ment disputes between states and nationals of other states. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration Under Lebanese law, the following types of disputes are non-arbitrable and are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of Lebanese national courts: • disputes related to personal status (nation- ality, age, adoption, divorce and marriage). However, disputes relating to monetary compensation resulting from personal status disputes remain arbitrable;
• disputes related to non-negotiable personal rights such as the right to physical integ- rity, human dignity, privacy and the right to food. However, similar to personal status, any dispute relating to monetary compensa- tion associated with those personal rights is arbitrable; • disputes related to public policy matters, including all matters considered by law as guaranteeing social, economic or political interests; • disputes arising from insolvency proceed- ings – as provided by Article 490 of the Code of Commerce, state courts have exclusive jurisdiction in insolvency matters; • labour and social security disputes, which fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Leba- nese Labour Arbitral Council; and • commercial representation disputes, which fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of Leba- nese courts pursuant to Decree Law No 34, dated 5 August 1967. However, it should be noted that in recent years the Lebanese courts have adopted a more permissible stance towards the arbitrability of such dis- putes in specific circumstances (eg, when the arbitral tribunal is required to apply Lebanese law on the merits). 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award As a preliminary note, the LCCP makes a distinc- tion between domestic and international arbitra- tion, the latter being governed by more flexible rules. The means of recourse against domestic awards are broader than the means of recourse available against international awards, as it will be further outlined below. Domestic Arbitration Domestic awards can be challenged through the following means of recourse:
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