DRAFT BILL FOR THE MODERNISATION OF ARBITRATION LAW

Today, the Federal Ministry of Justice presented the Draft Bill on the Modernization of the German Arbitration Law. The objective of the reform is to strengthen Germany's attractiveness as a place for arbitration.

The Federal Minister of Justice, Dr. Marco Buschmann, explains:

"We want to improve the conditions for dispute resolution made in Germany – in the interest of our companies and in the interest of our excellent lawyers. We have put together a package of measures to achieve this. The legislative plans for the introduction of Commercial Courts and the strengthening of negotiations via video in the civil justice are already well advanced. The modernization of the arbitration law is another important measure. Private arbitral tribunals are very popular in commercial transactions. Many companies value Germany as a place for arbitration. With our reform we want to make Germany as a place of arbitration even more attractive. Our recipe: less formalism, more openness for digital solutions."

Before presenting the bill, the Federal Ministry of Justice had identified possible reforms for examination and public consultation in April 2023. For a more detailed discussion see our blog: Reform of German Arbitration Law: Initial Key Point | Advant Beiten (advant-beiten.com).

According to the draft bill, the following proposals, among others, are to be implemented into the German Arbitration Law in the 10th book of the German Code of Civil Procedure:

Arbitration agreements shall be valid even if parties have not agreed on them in writing or any other form. Commercial business may even impliedly conclude arbitration agreements;
Arbitral awards shall be published more easily. If no party expresses an objection against such a publication, the consent is to be assumed (opt-out rule);
As a matter of clarification, the current practice of virtual hearings in arbitration proceedings shall be included into the German Arbitration Law;
Arbitral awards shall be feasible only as electronical documents;
An arbitral tribunal shall explicitly be allowed to include dissenting opinions in the arbitral award;
State court proceedings in conjunction to arbitration proceedings, which were originally allocated to the Higher Regional Court, can be allocated to Commercial Courts by the respective federal state;
In state court proceedings for the challenging or enforcement of an arbitral award, arbitral awards in the English must not be translated into German anymore. This also applies to submissions and other documents from arbitration proceedings.