Abstrakt

1. Introduction1  When reporting on current trends in Arbitration in Austria two major topics are worth mentioning: The Vienna International Arbitral Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (VIAC) released a revised set of its arbitration rules (“Vienna Rules”) which came into force on 1 July 2013. In addition, as from 1 January 2014 the 2013 Amendment to the Austrian Arbitration Act 2006 introduced important changes to the Austrian arbitration law. In particular, the Austrian Supreme Court became the first and last instance to decide on claims for setting aside an arbitral award.  This article intends to give an insight into these recent developments. Where it seemed appropriate recent decisions of the Austrian Supreme Court have been incorporated. 2. The Vienna Rules 2013 2.1. Historical Retrospect  The new Vienna Rules apply to all arbitration proceedings commencing on or after 1 July 2013.  Since the foundation of the VIAC in 1975 as a division of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (“AFEC”) and the release of the first set of arbitration rules, the Vienna Rules were amended six times and before the 2013 revision last updated in 2006 when Austria adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration into its legislation.  The current amendments are partly based on a widely distributed user survey conducted in early 2012, sent out and answered by almost 500 VIAC-users from 23 countries. Because the Vienna Rules 2006 enjoyed broad acceptance by practitioners, changes were made only in regard to specific matters. In a next step and following the suggestions derived from the customer survey, an expert working group composed of both academics39 and practitioners was set up with the goal to modernize, overhaul and streamline the arbitration rules. The drafts issued by the working group were then extensively discussed with numerous arbitration experts and further refined.  Finally, on 8 May 2013 the final version of the new Vienna Rules was adopted by the Extended Presiding Committee of the AFEC entering into force on 1 July 2013. Besides streamlining and simplifying existing provisions, a few provisions have been added to the new set of arbitration rules in order to meet new developments especially with respect to multi-party proceedings and related issues. VIAC’s revision commission deliberately decided not to include a new provision dealing with emergency arbitrators for the reason that this area was considered to be not fully developed and therefore its advantages have not emerged yet.  The main amendments concern the following topics: – Joinder of third parties; – Consolidation of proceedings; – Appointment of Arbitrators in multi-party proceedings; – Confirmation of the nomination of arbitrators; – Expediting measures •. expedited proceedings; •. removal of arbitrators in case of failure to perform their duties; •. announcement of anticipated issuance of the final award; – Costs.  In the following, the new features will be dealt with in detail after briefly introducing VIAC and its bodies. 2.2. The VIAC – Jurisdiction and Place of Arbitration  Since VIAC is an arbitral institution and not an arbitral tribunal itself, its main task is to administer international arbitral proceedings. Its services include: – Support of the parties until the constitution...