Summary

The ICCP-CA was asked to determine the competent jurisdiction to hear a liability action brought by a company under Qatari law, party to arbitration proceedings sitting in Paris, against one of the arbitrators, residing in Germany, for breach of his contractual obligations arising from an arbitrator's contract.

Overturning the first instance judgment, the Court first held that this action came under the scope of arbitration, excluded by Article 1.2 of Regulation (EU) No. 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, so that this regulation could not be applied to determine jurisdiction (§23 to 28).

Applying in the international order Article 46 of the Code of Civil Procedure allowing the appellant to seize the court "of the place where services were provided", the Court held that in matters of international arbitration, unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the Court of the place where the services were provided for the purpose of ruling on a liability action against the arbitrator in the performance of the arbitrator's contract was the Court in the jurisdiction in which the seat of the arbitration was located (§ 30 et seq).