1.1 Advantages

Romania is a pro-arbitration jurisdiction, with a modern legal framework and appropriate infrastructure for organising hearings at lower costs compared to other jurisdictions. Romanian courts give effect to the parties’ agreement to arbitrate, do not interfere with a tribunal’s jurisdiction or findings, and facilitate the enforcement of arbitral awards in accordance with the New York Convention.

1.2 Disadvantages and common pitfalls

There is a lack of regulation for third-party funding.

1.3 Distinctive features

The regulation of the “caducity” of arbitration and the procedure thereof. See Section 12.2, below, for details.

2.1 Legal framework

The Romanian Code of Civil Procedure (RCCP), in force since 15 February 2013, includes the main set of rules governing domestic and international arbitration. Book IV of the RCCP tackles mainly domestic arbitration, while Book VII tackles international arbitration and the effects of foreign arbitral awards.

2.2 What qualifies under domestic law as “international arbitration”? Is there a specific statute?

Under domestic law an arbitration is qualified as “international” when it arises from a legal relationship with a foreign element. There is no specific statute for international arbitration.

2.3 Ratification of the New York Convention

Romania ratified the New York Convention in 1961 by means of Decree No. 186/1961 which came into force on 24 July 1961, but with reservations regarding commercial relations and reciprocity.

2.4 Ratification of the ICSID Convention

Romania ratified the Washington Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (1965) by means of Decree No. 62/1975.

2.5 Other treaties relating to arbitration

Romania ratified the 1927 Geneva Convention on the Execution of Foreign Arbitral Awards by means of Law No. 50/1931, and the 1961 Geneva Convention on International Commercial Arbitration by means of Decree No. 281/1963. 

2.6 Choice of forum for intra-EU dispute settlement

Starting on 24 March 2022, Romania’s intra-EU bilateral investment treaties (BIT) were terminated, as well as the sunset clauses contained therein, by means of Law No. 2/2022 ratifying the Agreement on the Termination of Bilateral Investment Treaties concluded between EU Member States.

2.7 Is the municipal law governing arbitration based on UNCITRAL Model Law?

The municipal law governing arbitration is not based on UNCITRAL Model Law but it generally follows the same principles.

2.8 Recent amendments or reforms in arbitration laws

There are no recent amendments or reforms.

3.1 Presence of local arbitration institutions

The Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CICA-CCIR) is the most frequently used international arbitration institution in Romania. By means of Government Decision No. 1/2018, the CICA-CCIR was selected as the arbitration institution for disputes related to public works contracts concluded by Romanian contracting authorities.

3.2 Does the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) have a local office?

No.

3.3 Does the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) have a local office?

No.

3.4 Does the ICC International Court of Arbitration have a local office?

No.

3.5 Does the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) have a local office?

No.

3.6 Agreement entered into with local offices of international arbitration institutions

No.

4.1 Requirements as to content and form

Under Romanian law an arbitration agreement must be concluded in writing under sanction of nullity. It is deemed that the “in writing” requirement is met by means of exchange of letters, emails, faxes, electronic means of communication and other similar means.

4.2 Validity of arbitration agreements

The conditions for the validity of arbitration agreements are the same as for any other agreements under Romanian law, namely, a valid object, a valid cause, full exercise capacity of the parties, and valid consent.

4.3 Special formalities

If the arbitration agreement covers disputes regarding the transfer of ownership rights or other rights in rem over an immovable asset, Article 548 of the RCCP provides that it should be authenticated by a notary public, under the sanction of absolute nullity of the arbitration agreement.

4.4 Governing law

Pursuant to Article 1113(2) of the RCCP, the arbitration agreement is deemed valid if it meets the conditions of any of the following laws: the law chosen by the parties; the law governing the dispute; the law of the agreement that comprises the arbitration clause; or Romanian law.

The general conditions for the arbitrability of a dispute are: to be of a patrimonial nature; to deal with rights the parties may freely dispose of; and to fall outside the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts pursuant to the law of the seat of arbitration.

5.1 Applicable restrictions

Disputes over personal civil status and legal capacity, inheritance and family matters, and labour law are not arbitrable.

6.1 Stay of proceedings

A Romanian court seized of a dispute governed by an arbitration agreement must decline jurisdiction if at least one of the parties invokes the agreement to arbitrate. The arbitral tribunal will decide on its own jurisdiction based on the competence-competence principle.

6.2 Anti-suit injunctions

There is no regulation of anti-suit injunction.

7.1 Restrictions on the parties’ freedom to choose arbitrators

The law of Romania does not impose any restrictions on the parties’ freedom to choose arbitrators. Any inequality between the parties in the nomination of arbitrators is sanctioned with nullity (e.g., an arbitration agreement which provides a party’s privileged right over the other party to nominate the arbitrator or to have more arbitrators than the other party.

7.2 Requirement of arbitrator independence and impartiality

Under Romanian law, arbitrators are required to be independent, impartial, and to disclose any conflicts of interest. These concepts are generally defined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the circumstances of the case.

7.3 Mandatory rules applicable to the appointment process

The appointment process must comply with the principle of equality between the parties.

7.4 Appointment mechanism in the absence of party agreement or applicable institutional rules

When the parties do not agree on the appointment of the sole arbitrator or a party fails to nominate an arbitrator or, in the case of a three-panel arbitral tribunal, when the two arbitrators do not agree on the presiding arbitrator, the RCCP provides that the tribunal whose jurisdiction covers the seat of the arbitration may intervene in the selection of arbitrators by appointing an arbitrator or the presiding arbitrator.

7.5 Mandatory rules applicable to the replacement process

The new arbitrator shall be appointed in accordance with the terms on which the replaced arbitrator was appointed.

7.6 Mandatory disclosure obligations

An arbitrator who is aware of an issue of incompatibility has a legal duty to notify the parties and the other arbitrators before accepting the appointment or immediately after becoming aware of it, under the risk of challenge and annulment of the award.

7.7 Grounds for challenge

The RCCP provides that arbitrators can be challenged both for the same grounds as judges and, additionally, for specific grounds such as: failure to meet the professional requirements or other requirements set out in the arbitration agreement; a legal person having an interest in the arbitration dispute, where the legal person has the arbitrator as shareholder or involved in its management; where the arbitrator is working for or in direct commercial relations with one of the parties, a company controlled by one of the parties or under joint control; and where they provided consultancy to one of the parties, assisted one of the parties or testified in the previous stages of the dispute.

7.8 Mandatory rules governing the challenge of arbitrators

The challenge must be requested within 10 days from the date the party became aware of the appointment of the arbitrator or from the occurrence of the cause of challenge.

7.9 Removal

The replacement of an arbitrator may occur in the case of challenge, removal, withdrawal, resignation, death or other impediments. In such a case the replacement shall be made pursuant to the procedure set forth for the appointment of the arbitrator.

7.10 Liability and immunity of arbitrators

Pursuant to Article 565 of the RCCP, arbitrators are to be held liable for the damage caused as a result of the following actions: (i) if they resign after accepting the appointment; (ii) if they fail to attend the hearings or present their decision within the timeframe specified in the arbitration agreement or the law; (iii) if they fail to observe the confidential nature of the arbitration proceedings; or (iv) if they breach their duties through bad faith or gross negligence. There are no legal provisions on arbitrator immunity.

8.1 Interim measures

8.1.1 Overview of interim measures

The local court whose jurisdiction covers the seat of the arbitration may grant interim measures before or during the arbitral proceedings. The law provides no limitations as to the interim measures that may be taken in arbitration. Interim measures awarded by the arbitral tribunals are not enforceable under Romanian law. Only domestic courts can issue enforceable decisions as regards the interim measures.

8.1.2 Relevance of availability of emergency arbitrator mechanism

Even if the emergency arbitrator mechanism is available under the arbitration rules, in case the parties do not comply voluntarily with the interim relief rendered by the emergency arbitrator, the involvement of the state courts is necessary.

8.2 Taking of evidence

Domestic courts whose jurisdiction covers the seat of the arbitration may support the arbitration with measures on taking of evidence, before or during the arbitral proceedings, such as securing of evidence in case of urgency (e.g., the testimony of a person that is dying, the opinion of an expert on the physical state of some assets at a certain point).

8.3 Appointment or challenge of arbitrators

The RCCP provides that the tribunal whose jurisdiction covers the seat of the arbitration may intervene in the selection of arbitrators by appointing an arbitrator or the presiding arbitrator only in cases where the parties do not agree on the appointment of the sole arbitrator, or a party fails to nominate an arbitrator, or in the case of a three-panel arbitral tribunal when the two arbitrators do not agree on whom should they appoint as presiding arbitrator.

8.4 Other available assistance

The court may also intervene to apply sanctions to the expert or to the witnesses, or if a public authority fails to respond to an information request received from the arbitral tribunal.

9.1 Domestic scope of sovereign immunity from jurisdiction

There is no specific law related to sovereign immunity from jurisdiction. Therefore, the provisions of international treaties and conventions apply, such as the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of the States and their Property of 2 December 2004.

9.2 Immunity from execution

There is no specific law related to immunity from execution. Therefore, the provisions of international treaties and conventions apply.

Parties and arbitrators enjoy ample discretion in the conduct of arbitral proceedings within the limits of the due process principle and the parties’ right to be heard.

While arbitrators have an obligation of confidentiality, between the parties the matter of confidentiality depends on the parties’ agreement, choice of institution or choice of the seat of arbitration.

12.1 Requirements as to content and form

The award must be in writing and contain the reasoning of the tribunal. Any dissenting opinion must be included in the arbitral award as well. The arbitral award must be signed by all arbitrators (except for those having a dissenting opinion, who shall sign only that opinion) and by the arbitral assistant. The arbitral award must also contain the time and place the award was rendered.

12.2 Time limit

As regards domestic arbitrations, pursuant to Article 567 of the RCCP, when parties did not agree on any time limit, the arbitral tribunal has six months to render an award, starting from the day the arbitral tribunal was lawfully constituted. At the first hearing the parties must state whether they wish to raise the “caducity” of the award due to the exceeding of such time limit. If no such statement is expressly made by at least one of the parties, or they expressly waived the right to challenge the validity of the arbitration based on the exceeding of the time limit, the legal time limit will not be applicable.

As regards international arbitrations, pursuant to Article 1115(4) of the RCCP, the time limits provided for in Book IV of the RCCP will be doubled.

12.3 Remedies

There is no limitation on the type of remedies that an arbitral tribunal may award. Nevertheless, the arbitral tribunal can only award what was requested by the parties.

13.1 Interpretation and correction of awards

Article 604 of the RCCP provides that a party may submit a claim for the correction of clerical errors, for interpretation or for completion within 10 days from the service of the award. The additional award that shall be annexed to the initial award, forming a whole.

13.2 Challenge of an award

An award may be challenged within one month from the service of the award for the following grounds:

• the dispute was non-arbitrable;
• the arbitration agreement did not exist or was invalid or ineffective;
• the constitution of the arbitral tribunal was not in accordance with the arbitration agreement;
• the party requesting the setting aside of the award was not duly notified of the hearing when the main arguments were heard and was absent when the hearing took place;
• the arbitral award was rendered after expiry of the time limit, even though at least one party submitted its intention to object to the late issuance of the award and the parties opposed the continuation of the proceedings after expiry of the time limit;
• the award granted something which was not requested (ultra petita) or more than was requested (plus petita);
• the award failed to mention the tribunal’s decision on the relief sought and did not include the reasoning behind the decision, the date and place of the decision or the signatures of the arbitrators; or
• the award violated public policy, mandatory legal provisions or morality; subsequent to issuance of the final award, the Constitutional Court has declared unconstitutional the legal provisions challenged by a party during the arbitral proceedings or other legal provisions included in the challenged piece of legislation that are closely related to and inseparable from those challenged.

When the challenge is grounded on the issuance of the Constitutional Court decision, the time limit is three months after publication of that court’s decision.

13.3 Recognition and enforcement proceedings

Domestic and international arbitral awards rendered in Romania can be enforced in the same manner as court decisions. Foreign arbitral awards are subject to a separate procedure of recognition and enforcement. The request will be submitted to the competent court, accompanied by the original of the arbitration award and of the arbitration agreement or by authenticated copies thereof, which need to be translated into Romanian and legalised.

13.4 Cost of enforcement

An applicant seeking the recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award is required to pay a stamp duty of RON 20.

13.5 Enforcement of orders of emergency arbitrators

Orders of emergency arbitrators are not enforceable.

14.1 Process for enforcing New York Convention awards

In order to be granted the recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award, a request is submitted before the competent court, to which legalised or apostille-certified copies of the translated award and arbitration agreement are attached.

14.2 Grounds for resisting enforcement of New York Convention awards

The tribunal will examine only the grounds for refusal of recognition and enforcement as set out in the New York Convention.

14.3 Enforcing non-Convention awards

Non-Convention awards are enforced pursuant to the provisions on recognition and enforcement in the RCCP. The conditions are similar to those provided by the New York Convention.

15.1 Applicable to counsel

There are no specific rules governing the conduct of counsel in arbitration. Nevertheless, members of the Bar are subject to the ethical obligations under Romanian law regulating lawyers’ practice, and the Statute of the legal profession.

15.2 Applicable to arbitrators

There are no specific professional or ethical rules governing the conduct of arbitrators.

16.1 Applicable regulatory requirements

Third-party funding is not expressly regulated in Romania. Therefore, third-party funding arrangements may be possible, but these arrangements must be carefully crafted in order to ensure compliance with collateral regulations.

16.2 Overview of the third-party funding market

The third-party funding market is still developing in Romania.

Romania is not known for a particular type of arbitration, and there are no specialist local administering institutions.

17.1 Types of specialist arbitration

Not applicable.

17.2 Key legal principles

Not applicable.

17.3 Types of claim and defences typically brought in that area

Not applicable.

17.4 Issues and strategic considerations to take note of

Not applicable.

The most significant recent development is a binding decision on the uniform interpretation and application of Article 616(1) of the RCCP, rendered by the High Court of Cassation and Justice on 17 June 2024, that clarified that only non-governmental organisations (NGOs) explicitly authorised by law can administer institutional arbitration in Romania. This decision does not affect the activity of international or foreign arbitral institutions.