East-West Arbitration: A Practitioner's Viewpoint from Hungary

Abstract

Arbitration plays a dominant role in foreign trade transactions conducted between foreign and Hungarian companies, both with CMEA-member countries and non-Socialist countries.2 In foreign trade between CMEA-member countries, all legal disputes arising under the General Terms of Delivery of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or under the economic and scientific co-operation agreements of CMEA-member countries are referred, as is well known, to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of Arbitration attached to a particular CMEA-member country's Chamber of Commerce.3 This means that as a general rule (excepting separate agreements to different effect), the arbitration takes place at the Court of Arbitration of the Chamber of Commerce situated in the defendant's country.4 Although the venue of the arbitration is established by legal rules and not by arbitration agreement, these arbitrations are still arbitration procedures pursued in full compliance with the rules of the different Courts of Arbitration at the respective Chamber of Commerce. These arbitration procedures have become familiar to Hungarian legal practitioners working in foreign trade as a matter of almost daily routine, providing an excellent education to junior colleagues of a Hungarian company's legal staff – which can be put to good advantage in other arbitration procedures irrespective of their location.