The 2018-2022 French Programming Act for Justice recently
adopted specific provisions relating to online arbitration, in an
attempt to decongest French Courts facing increasing caseloads.
This important step towards virtual dispute resolution provides
valuable answers to many of the issues raised by the upcoming of
LegalTech players in the realm of dispute resolution.
Three main points are worth noting: the prohibition of entirely
automated decision-making (1.) ; the requirement for data
protection and confidentiality (2.) ; and certification of online
arbitration as a guarantee for litigants (3.).
1. Prohibition of entirely automated decision-making
In response to the much debated issue of whether robots would
ever replace judges, the French Programming Act provides an answer
through the regulation of online arbitration: it forbids entirely
automated decision-making, thus unsurprisingly endorsing the
broader philosophical conception that justice can only
