Why Arbitrate in Portugal? Reason 7 – Supportive Courts

International Arbitration & Portugal

Supportive State Courts

In addition to the several previously mentioned advantages in regards to selecting Portugal as an all-encompassing jurisdiction for the resolution of international arbitration disputes, it is worthwhile mentioning the adaptive and supportive Portuguese state courts.

As touched upon in previous posts, Portugal shares historic and legal roots with other Lusophonic countries, which has been a critical factor in the selection of Portugal in the execution of bilateral agreements, making it appealing as a jurisdiction for international arbitration. These agreements have led to Portugal being considered as having supportive state courts within the realm of arbitration.

Courts in Portugal consistently adhere to the principle that the arbitral tribunals are competent to decide on their own competency. A number of cases related to swaps show that courts do not hesitate to refer parties to arbitration even in the event that there exist allegations that these contracts are null for violating public policy. Arbitral tribunals are sufficiently competent to decide on the costs of arbitration, and courts will only intervene where excessive situations occur. Arbitral awards are only set aside when there is a violation of public policy or other fundamental principles of arbitration – which is very rare!

The UNCITRAL Model Law contains the fundamental principles of party autonomy as well as all the legal tools necessary for the successful resolution of an international arbitration dispute. These tools, embodied within the Portuguese state court system, include equality of parties, due process as well as the finality of the award. Another advantage of this system entails the fact that any dispute can be subject to arbitration as long as it is not exclusively submitted to the state courts and concern economic interests. Disputes not involving economic interests can also be subject to arbitration so long as the dispute in question is capable of being subject to a settlement by the parties. The state court system also allows for the arbitration of issues concerning labor agreements, which in the past were only open for dispute within judicial courts.

LEARN MORE

If you would like more information or have any questions regarding international arbitration in Portugal, please send us an email to info@victoria.associates and we will be in touch as soon as is possible.

April 7, 2020

Why Arbitrate in Portugal? Reason 5 – Modern Country, Modern Facilities

Portugal & International Arbitration

Recently modernized infrastructures and facilities

Portugal is a developed country with many modern infrastructures and facilities. In recent times, Portugal has been considered a spearhead in terms of new technologies and IT solutions. This is especially relevant in terms of the fact that many of these new technologies have also been applied to the Portuguese judicial system.

Since the late 90’s, Portugal initiated a program to renovate and modernize its infrastructures, including court premises. The judicial system is supported by a modern IT infrastructure that allows almost every lawsuit to be managed online by court judges, court clerks and counsel. Almost every court judge will allow the taking of witness depositions via video-conferencing, including by Skype as well as other applications.

Portugal currently contains modern arbitration centres and state-of-the-art facilities to manage arbitrations and hold hearings. An example of those facilities may be found in the website of the Arbitration Centre of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CAC) HERE.

Procedures before state courts are almost entirely managed through web-based platforms, the most important and notable of which is referred to as “Citius”, which was introduced by the Portuguese ministry of justice. Thanks to this web-based platform, paperless dockets have been a reality in Portugal for many years now. There are many other advantages of this platform including allowing for the submittal of court documents and decisions, as well as the consultation of proceedings by judges, lawyers and court clerks. Other advantages of this platform included notifications being provided online, as well as the logistical coordination of the proceedings themselves.

Arbitration has been benefiting from this new landscape, for example, if one party intends to begin arbitration and needs an interim measure; all that must be done is to file a request via the “Citius” web-based platform. The request will then arrive at the judge’s desk the following day. This online system works for every arbitration related matter that needs to be dealt with by state courts, with the exception of the Supreme Court of Justice.

What makes Portugal’s adaptation of modernized facilities and the usage of new technology in the judicial system is that not only has this greatly streamlined and facilitated the international arbitration dispute resolution process, but also that Portugal’s path to modernization, in comparison to other countries, has been less fraught with setbacks during this process.

LEARN MORE

March 24, 2020

Why Arbitrate in Portugal? Reason 4 – A Safe and Friendly Place

Portugal & International Arbitration

A safe, stable and reliable jurisdiction

Portugal, with its stable economic, political and legal systems has been growing increasing popular in the realm of being considered as an advantageous destination not only for tourism but also for the resolution of international arbitration disputes. Alongside this, Portugal is considered to be one of the safest countries in the world with a ranking as among the top 5 safest countries in the world, according to World Atlas.

With the recent destabilization in many European countries in regards to political, economic and even in terms of elevated terror threats, Portugal has remained among the very few which has remained stable in all these regards over the past years.

With the looming uncertainty of Brexit in the UK and the fact that the fate legal and political systems has been up in the air until the decision has been completely resolved, has deterred many from selecting the UK as a stable jurisdiction.

The rise of the extreme right in several other European countries has also served to destabilize not only their respective economies but has also brought uncertainty to the fate of their political and legal systems.

The rise of terrorism in Europe over the past few years in many countries has also served to dissuade many in seeking out these countries. There have been several significant terrorist attacks, and in some countries more than one attack, over the past decade alone in France, Germany, Norway, Ukraine, and the UK. Portugal’s terrorist threat index rate is the lowest within the EU, due to political, but also geographic reasons as it only borders Spain, with the other border being the Atlantic Ocean.

These considerations all factor into the selection of a safe and stable jurisdiction for the resolution of international arbitration disputes. Those who select Portugal as a jurisdiction have the peace of mind that at any given moment the political and legal systems won’t simply drastically change, thusly potentially negatively affecting the outcome of a successful resolution.

If you need more information, send us an email info@victoria.associates

February 12, 2020

Duarte Henriques Appointed as VIAC’s International Advisory Board Member

Duarte G Henriques – Member of the International Advisory Board of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre

Duarte G Henriques, Victoria Associates’ founding member, has been appointed as member of the International Advisory Board of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre. The term will run from 2020 to 2022.

Check the composition of the International Advisory Board HERE !

Get in touch with us if you want to learn more about Victoria Associates – info@victoria.associates

January 2, 2020

We do what we like, and we like what we do

Watch our institutional video

To celebrate the New Year 2020, we released our institutional video.

Victoria Associates represents a new way of doing business. It is designed for the client.

We share the risk with the client.

We offer affordable solutions without compromising the quality of the services that are rendered.

Embark with us!

We do what we like, and we like what we do!

December 8, 2019

The New Merchants and cross border Dispute Resolution

Trade has always been the driving force for societal changes. The ones willing to brave into the unknown, navigating wild seas searching for the next opportunity – the merchants – reshaped our cross-border relations, contributing to global development and along this path changing the rule of law as such.

Based on once upcoming new challenges, a special kind of law emerged, structured upon customs, good practices, and contracts, the lex mercatoria, was a truly global law. Since then, it has been in constant development, sustained by the autonomy of the will, by the agreements which transcends national legal boundaries and local legal systems.

Surely, as any kind of commercial relation, issues might arise, and as such with traditional legal systems, this global rule of law urged for a dispute resolution mechanism. Henceforth, International Arbitration came into the scene, providing a path to fulfill those needs and solve legal disputes, in a state independent way – delivering a decision-making procedure to those fast-paced advances of a truly global law. Later on, with the Pélissier du Besset case, or the Unidroit principles, even the states recognized a new legal order applicable to cross-border demands.

Along this path, the New York convention of 1958 represented a great achievement, where once adamant sovereign states decided to recognize and accept Arbitration decisions, even enforcing arbitral awards inside their borders – becoming a key instrument for international arbitration. Contracts and Arbitrations are and always will be deeply connected, as part of an autopoietic – state independent – legal system.

Nonetheless, society continued to change, and as such a mirror held up against life, law also changed and adjusted itself to the new reality.

We are living on an algorithm and data-driven world, on a place where international contracts are established a “click” away. Whether purchasing something on eBay or “buying” copyrights on YouTube, our instruments to develop global business became substantially more dynamic and complex (yet simple). Platforms as such eBay are bringing to international commercial contracts, foreign exchange agreements, global payments schemas, and to supply chain conditions, the simplicity of “button push” (or a declaration of “I Consent”).

Most likely traditional state law is no longer able to frame and embrace those advances, providing a satisfactory and efficient dispute resolution system. Thus, international institutional or ad hoc disputes resolution mechanism are taking back the stand, providing a newly reinterpreted simplified commercial arbitration, providing the means to solve those “complex” commercial matters under eBay’s Dispute resolution system, or intellectual property disputes at YouTube’s “Content ID” dispute system, as simple examples.

We are the new merchants, now navigating through the wild and unknown seas of technology. As such, our legal needs are being adjusted to and by disruptive technologies, and new solutions are needed in order to provide us the tools to do business on this cosmopolitan, connected and global legal society. Those are simple examples and daily situations, but what about the complex corporate ones?

Victoria Associates has been forged inside this context. Created by and from the global context and aligning different minds from various expertise and legal systems.

Our highly innovative and experienced professionals are a joint global effort to provide your business with the vessel necessary to navigate into the tortuous and complex waters of global dispute resolution, providing the tools and the knowledge to solve the most complex disputes that might arise in your quest for profit beyond state borders. Born in the land of the great explorers, we can guide you through the toughest disputes.

Please contact us if you have any question – info@victoria.associates