The Uruguayan Parliament approved, last July 3, 2018, the draft Law on International Commercial Arbitration. The law is based on the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration of the United Nations’ Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
So far, Uruguay lacked specific legislation on International Commercial Arbitration, which was seen as a disadvantage for attracting international arbitration cases. Likewise, the message of the government reads:
"In this way, Uruguay will be able to consolidate itself as a place of arbitration between foreign parties, but it will also allow Uruguayan companies to propose to Uruguay, with greater possibilities of acceptance, as the seat of arbitrations that agree on their international contracts"
Uruguay already had a strong framework covering domestic arbitration. Also, Uruguay had ratified the Treaties of International Procedural Law of Montevideo dated 1889 and 1940, the Inter-American Conventionon International Commercial Arbitration (Panama 1975), the Inter-American Convention on the Extraterritorial Validity of Arbitral Awards and Acts (Montevideo 1979) and the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York 1958), and the Mercosur International Commercial Arbitration Agreements.
The International Commercial Arbitration Law is structured in nine chapters containing: (i) general provisions, (ii) the arbitration agreement, (iii) the composition of the Arbitral Tribunal, (iv) the jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal, (v) the conduct of the arbitration proceedings, (vi) the pronouncement of the award and termination of the proceedings, (vii) the costs of the arbitration, (viii) the challenge to the award, and (ix) the recognition and enforcement of the awards.
Summarizing, the approval of the International Commercial Arbitration law represents a great advance for Uruguayan arbitration, since it provides certainty and uniformity with other jurisdictions across the world in its fundamental aspects. The combination of the aforementioned framework with one of the strongest rule of law in the Americas, projects the Uruguayan jurisdiction as an attractive choice for international trade disputes.
The Draft National Law on International Commercial Arbitration:
https://medios.presidencia.gub.uy/legal/2015/proyectos/09/mrree_495.pdf
Should you have any comments or questions please let us know.
Alfredo Taullard - ataullard@hughes.com.uy
Mariana Arena -marena@hughes.com.uy
