Portugal
has adopted, with the Law on Voluntary Arbitration (Lei da Arbitragem
Voluntária Lei 63/2011) which entered into force in 2012, a
modern arbitration legislation. To a large extent, the law is the result of the
work of Portuguese arbitration practitioners and scholars, taking into account
the views of the wider legal community. It is mostly based on the UNCITRAL
Model Law while also adopting some innovations of national laws in Europe and
preserving a certain continuity with Portuguese legal tradition. This law sets
up a comprehensive and independent legislation adopting the distinction between
domestic arbitration and international arbitration and establishes many
solutions that Portuguese scholars already advocated. It also addresses certain
criticisms against the former law of 1986 and establishes a full autonomy from
the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure. These progresses will improve the
consistency of Portuguese case law related to arbitration. With this new
legislation, Portugal aims to become an important seat of international arbitration
in general and in the Portuguese-speaking world in particular. This commentary
presents and analyzes the key provisions of the new law by referring, where
appropriate, to the relevant Portuguese case law.