Arbitration in Austria

The first general statutory regulation of arbitration was contained in Chapter Four, entitled “Arbitral Procedure”, comprising Arts. 577-599 of the CCP of 1 August 1895 (RGBl. Nr. 113). These provisions were very modern for their time. They gave arbitral tribunals practically the same status as civil courts, and arbitral awards were treated as civil court judgments. Therefore, no exequatur proceedings for arbitral awards were necessary. These provisions were updated by the Federal Law of 2 February 1983, concerning provisions on civil procedure (BGBl. Nr. 135/1983) as in force since 1 May 1983. Due to Austria, as a neutral country, having become a venue for East-West arbitrations, it was necessary to adapt the existing provisions to the new requirements. As in the preceding regulation, no distinction was made between domestic and international arbitration.

Since then, the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, has become the reference standard for international commercial arbitration worldwide. It was, therefore, felt necessary to review the Austrian arbitration statute and to bring it in line with the provisions of the UNCITRAL Model Law, last but not least in order to maintain the position of Austria as a venue for international arbitrations. A draft of a possible new Austrian Arbitration Law was drawn up by a working group on the reform of the Austrian Arbitration Law in the framework of a scientific institute which completed its work in 2002. The proposals of this working group were published and together with comments from the Austrian Bar and the suggestions contained in a thesis served the Federal Ministry of Justice as a basis for the draft of a new Austrian Arbitration Law 2005. In 2006, the new Austrian Arbitration Law (Schiedsrechts-Änderungsgesetz 2006 – SchiedsRÄG 2006) was adopted by the Austrian Parliament (BGBl. I 2006/7) and it came into effect on 1 July 2006. Austria has, thus, joined the club of UNCITRAL Model Law countries.