The law relating to procedural remedies in the context of arbitration had profoundly changed following Decrees n° 80-354 of 14 May 1980 and n° 81-500 of 12 May 1981, with a simplification and reduction of the procedural remedies available against an arbitral award.
The Decree of 13 January 2011 pursued this in depth reform of procedural remedies in the context of arbitration, in the name of efficiency. Applications for annulment became the principal right of recourse against an arbitral award. In domestic arbitration, appeals were relegated by these reforms to the rank of exceptional right of recourse. Applications for revision were made available against international awards, whilst third party opposition remained unavailable. The suspensive effect of an application for annulment of an international award (and of the appeal against an order allowing the enforcement of such award) was removed. Waiver of the right to seek annulment became possible in the context of international arbitration.
The few years which have elapsed since the entry into force of the decree of 13 January 2011 allow one to raise the question: has the system of procedural remedies in arbitration now reached a point of balance? *The article formulates the following hypothesis: whilst the decree of 13 January 2011 provided the outline of a new model for procedural remedies in arbitration, largely suited to contemporary arbitration, if one looks at the detail, the conception of the procedural remedies could still be refined, in order to aim for a point of balance between the preservation of fundamental guarantees of justice (for the parties to the arbitration and occasionally to third parties) and the efficiency of the arbitration, in compliance with the parties’ wishes.
Revue de l’arbitrage