Latvian Arbitration Laws Tightened

Article by Andrejs Lielkalns

In an effort to combat various abuses of arbitration process in Latvia, the Latvian parliament ("Saeima") has passed an amendment to the Civil Procedure Law tightening the regulation of arbitration process and arbitration courts in Latvia. The amendment introduces a mandatory registration requirement for institutional arbitration bodies, expands the scope of issues which may not be referred to arbitration in Latvia, sets out new rules of enforceability of arbitral awards, clarifies certain procedural deadlines and contents of procedural documents.

In Latvia arbitration is governed by a separate stand-alone section of the Civil Procedure Law. The current amendments to the law constitute the first major change in the regulation of arbitration since the enactment of the Civil Procedure Law in 1998.