Aceris Law

Cabinet d’arbitrage international

Arbitration in Slovakia

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Arbitration in Slovakia has not ceased to develop and adapt itself to international standards since the independence of the country on 1 January 1993. Today, it is a well-recognised alternative dispute resolution mechanism in Slovakia. Below, we address the main features of the legal instruments regulating civil/commercial, as well as investment arbitration, in Slovakia.Arbitration in Slovakia

Civil & Commercial Arbitration in Slovakia

Civil and commercial arbitration in Slovakia is governed by the Arbitration Act No. 244/2002 Coll. dated 3 April 2002. This replaced a former Arbitration Act No. 218/1996 Coll. dated 1 July 1996 and, subsequently, went through a series of amendments such as Amendment No. 521/2005 Coll. dated 28 October 2005, Amendment No. 71/2009 Coll. dated 11 February 2009 and Amendment No. 336/2014 Coll. dated 21 October 2014. The Arbitration Act No. 244/2002 Coll., as amended, will be referred to as the “Arbitration Act”.

Arbitrable v. Non-Arbitrable Disputes in Slovakia 

According to Article 1, Paragraph 2 of the Arbitration Act all legal disputes eligible for a settlement between the parties, as well as all claims for declaratory relief, can be resolved via arbitration. The inclusion of claims for declaratory relief amongst the arbitrable disputes was made in 2014 by the Amendment No. 336/2014 Coll.

In turn, Article 1, Paragraph 3 of the Arbitration Act enumerates the types of disputes that are non-arbitrable:

  • Disputes relating to creation, modification and/or termination of ownership or other real property (in rem) rights;
  • Disputes relating to personal status;
  • Disputes relating to compulsory enforcement proceedings; and
  • Disputes arising out of bankruptcy or restructuring proceedings.

Article 1, Paragraph 4 of the Arbitration Act also specifies that consumer disputes are excluded from its scope. These disputes are in fact regulated under the Act No. 335/2014 Coll. on Consumer Arbitration dated 21 October 2014, which will not be addressed here.

Arbitration Agreement in Slovakia

The definition of an arbitration agreement is provided for in Article 3 of the Arbitration Act and has its inspiration in the definition figuring in Article 7 of the 2006 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, i.e., “an agreement by the parties to submit to arbitration all or certain disputes which have arisen or which may arise between them in respect of a defined legal relationship, whether contractual or not.”

Regarding the form of the arbitration agreement, Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Arbitration Act states that it may be in the form of an arbitration clause in a contract or in the form of a separate agreement.

Both forms of the arbitration agreement are required to be in writing in order to be valid. Article 4, Paragraphs 3 to 7 specify that an arbitration agreement is in writing if:

  • its content is recorded in an exchange of parties’ written communications;
  • it is concluded electronically provided that the used electronic means identify its author and record the substance of such legal act;
  • it is included in by-laws of an association or any other legal person in which a person acquires a membership;
  • a contract or parties’ communication contains reference to any document containing an arbitration clause, provided that the reference is such as to make that clause part of the contract;[1]
  • it is invoked by a claimant in its statement of claim and, subsequently, not denied by respondent in its statement of defence submitted to the arbitral tribunal.

Article 4, Paragraph 6 of the Arbitration Act also provides that the absence of the written form of an arbitration agreement can be remedied by a joint statement of the parties accepting the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal which, in turn, must be recorded in minutes recorded by the arbitral tribunal.

In addition, Article 2, Paragraph 2 allows parties to agree to bring a dispute to arbitration even though such a dispute is already being dealt with in court proceedings, provided that such an agreement is made in conformity with Article 3.

Regarding the validity of the arbitration agreement, Article 5, Paragraph 2 of the Arbitration Act provides that the validity of the arbitration agreement is not impacted by the invalidity of the contract containing it. This provision is a consecration of the theory of separability, or independence of the arbitration agreement, from the main contract.

Composition of the Arbitral Tribunal in Slovakia

Pursuant to Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the Arbitration Act, any natural person of legal age and full legal capacity without any prior criminal convictions can serve as an arbitrator. It is interesting to note that under the aegis of the former Arbitration Act No. 218/1996 Coll.,  the office of arbitrator was reserved to Slovak nationals only (Article 5, Paragraph 2).[2]

According to Article 8, Paragraph 3 of the Arbitration Act, no one shall be obliged to accept the mission of an arbitrator. Furthermore, pursuant Article 6a of the Arbitration Act, once the mission is accepted, the arbitrator must conduct the proceedings in an impartial manner and with professional care in order to protect the rights and interests of the parties. In addition, Article 17 of the Arbitration Act provides that the parties shall be treated equally throughout the entire proceedings and be afforded the same opportunity to present and protect their rights.

Regarding the composition of the arbitral tribunal,  Article 7 of the Arbitration Act provides that the arbitral tribunal shall be composed either of a sole arbitrator or several arbitrators. Should the parties decide to appoint several arbitrators, there must be in an odd number. If the arbitration agreement is silent on the number of arbitrators and the parties fail to reach any agreement in this respect, Article 7, Paragraph 3 of the Arbitration Agreement specifies that the arbitral tribunal by default shall be composed of three arbitrators.

Jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal in Slovakia

The issue of the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal is governed by Article 21 of the Arbitration Act, which embodies the principle of the competence-competence, i.e., that an arbitral tribunal may rule on its own jurisdiction, including any objection relating to the existence or validity of the arbitration agreement.

This Article also sets forth a series of time limits for raising objections to the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal:

  • if the challenge concerns the validity of the arbitration agreement, the challenging party must raise it no later than its first submission on merits;
  • if the challenge concerns the issue of arbitrability of the dispute, the challenging party must raise it no later than at the end of the oral hearing or the issuance of the award if there is no oral hearing;
  • if the challenge is that the dispute falls outside the scope of the jurisdiction of an arbitral tribunal, the challenging party must raise it as soon as it becomes aware of such issue.

Arbitral Awards in Slovakia

Pursuant to Article 34 of the Arbitration Act, arbitral awards must be made in writing and contain a number of mandatory requirements amongst which figure the operative part of the decision on merits, the reasons upon which the award is made, unless otherwise agreed between the parties, and a mention of the possibility to file an application to set aside the award with State court. Paragraph 4 of the said Article further provides that an arbitral award shall contain information about the amount of costs of the arbitration and the party bearing them in their entirety or the ratio of the disbursement among the parties.

Article 35 of the Arbitration Act specifies that the effect of the arbitral award is identical to the effect of judgments of State courts.

The Arbitration Act also contains an interesting provision regarding the review of arbitral awards. Pursuant to Article 37, the parties may agree in their arbitration agreement that, at a request of either of them made within 15 days as of the delivery of the award, the latter may be reviewed by another arbitrator or arbitrators.

The Setting Aside of Arbitral Awards Rendered in Slovakia

Article 40 of the Arbitration Act sets forth a number of grounds on which an application to this effect can be made including, inter alia :

  • Incapacity of a party to enter into the arbitration agreement;
  • The award dealt with a matter that was not covered by the arbitration agreement;
  • Irregular composition of the arbitral tribunal;
  • Reasons for which recognition and enforcement shall be refused to a foreign arbitral award pursuant to Article 50, Paragraph 2 of the Arbitration Act.

An application for setting aside of an award must be made within 60 days as of its receipt (Article 41 of the Arbitration Act).

Foreign Arbitral Awards and Their Recognition and Enforcement in Slovakia

In conformity with Article 46 of the Arbitration Act, foreign arbitral awards, i.e., awards rendered in the territory of a country other than Slovakia, may be recognised and enforced within the territory of Slovakia.

In addition, Slovakia is a member to the New York Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards to which it acceded as an independent State after its separation from the Czech Republic on 1 January 1993. It is to be noted that Czechoslovakia had ratified the Convention on 10 July 1959.

Pursuant to Article 50 of the Arbitration Act, the recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award can be refused for several reasons including inter alia:

  • Incapacity of a party to enter into the arbitration agreement;
  • The award dealt with a matter that was not covered by the arbitration agreement;
  • Irregular composition of the arbitral tribunal;
  • Recognition and enforcement would be against public policy.

Investment Arbitration in Slovakia

Although it does not have any specific investment arbitration law or code, Slovakia is a party to multiple bilateral[3] and multilateral treaties to this effect, such as the ICSID Convention and the Energy Charter Treaty.

Slovakia has been involved in a number of investment arbitrations,  amongst which we can cite:

[1] See also Article 7(6) of the 2006 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration.

[2] To compare see Article 11(1) of the 2006 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration: “No person shall be precluded by reason of his nationality from acting as an arbitrator, unless otherwise agreed by the parties.”

[3] The list of the bilateral investment treaties entered into by Slovakia can be accessed at the following link: https://investmentpolicy.unctad.org/international-investment-agreements/countries/191/slovakia