The Rise of Arbitration in Brazil

Abstract

Abstract This introductory chapter discusses the rise of arbitration in Brazil. Modern commercial arbitration in Brazil is overtaking classic strongholds of international arbitration, despite its relatively young history. The Brazilian Arbitration Law (BAL) was adopted in 1996, eleven years after Brazil's re-democratization in 1985. The law revoked those parts of the Civil Procedure Code of 1973 particularly detrimental to the success of arbitration in the last century. Rather than integrating the new arbitration law into the existing Civil Procedure Code (CPC), the Brazilian legislator preserved it as a standalone act, thus revoking the CPC's pre-existing arbitration rules. In this way, the legislator facilitated developing an interpretation sui generis, thus preventing the matter from being taken over entirely by scholars of civil procedure law. Today, Brazilian arbitration scholars and practitioners come from many different backgrounds, including commercial, civil, international, and civil procedure law. Even tax, constitutional, and administrative lawyers are part of the community. The chapter then looks at the ratification of the New York Convention (NYC) in Brazil.