In A Chain Of Contracts Transferring Ownership, The Arbitration Clause Is Automatically Transferred

In order to deny the jurisdiction of the Commercial Court of Saint-Malo before which proceedings had been initiated against one of our clients, a Swedish company, the Court of Appeals of Rennes, with which we filed a jurisdictional objection, ruled that an arbitration clause was enforceable against our opponent event though it had not signed said clause.

In a judgment date September 11, 2018, the Court of Appeals of Rennes thus applied the so-called competence-competence principle and recalled that in a chain of contracts transferring ownership, the arbitration agreement is automatically transferred as an accessory to the right of action.

This judgment has not been appealed against within the prescribed timeline and it has now become final and irrevocable.