There Is Ordinary Situation and There Is Latvia’s Situation

Abstract

HOW LATVIA REINVENTED THE ARBITRATION WHEEL 

Latvia made its first attempt to introduce modern arbitration law in 1998 when the Chapter D “Arbitration” of the Civil Procedure Law was adopted. This Chapter specifically dealt with arbitration. However, unlike regulatory frameworks in the two other Baltic states (Estonia and Lithuania), it was not based on the UNCITRAL Model Law. The Chapter D was extremely unsuccessful. While it was in force, Latvia had numerous arbitral institutions (there were more than 200), and many of them were vaguely structured “pocket arbitrations.” As a result, Latvia suffered from an extremely low level of trust in arbitration.
There was a pressing need for a reform. Finally, the new Arbitration Law of Latvia was adopted on September 11, 2014, and entered into force on January 1, 2015. The new law did not fully substitute the Chapter D. The Chapter D still contains rules on enforcement of institutional arbitral awards rendered in Latvia (Articles 534-537). Notably, Article 536 of the Chapter D preserves the grounds that entitle courts to refuse to issue a writ of execution for enforcement of institutional arbitral awards. However, most other issues relevant to arbitration were transferred to the Arbitration Law.