A CENTURY OF ROMANIAN ARBITRATION: HISTORICAL MILESTONES, FROM TRADITION TO MODERNITY
A CENTURY OF ROMANIAN ARBITRATION: HISTORICAL MILESTONES, FROM TRADITION TO MODERNITY

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents the evolution of Romanian arbitration, proving its effort and orientation towards efficiency in order to meet the users’ needs and to adapt to the challenges of a changing world. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when the whole of Europe was struggling with the legislative activity imposed by the breaking of the old feudal tradition and the demand to meet the needs that were born with the revolutions and changes dictated by them, in our country, Caragea Code entered into force regulating also arbitration, taking over from the Donici Handbook and the Calimach Code. The latter, however, was considered superior to Caragea's legislation and applied for nearly 50 years. It followed the Unification of the Principalities and the adoption of the 1865 Civil Procedure Code with the arbitration regulated in the Fourth Book, which lasted until 1993, when arbitration was given a revival and ample regulation aligned with contemporary legislation. During the communist era there was an institution adapted to the new socialist principles for settling foreign trade disputes, the State Arbitration. This contributed keeping alive of the Commercial Code which was not abrogated, for it continued to use commercial law and its principles when Romanian law was to apply. The last significant change occurred with the entry into force of the current Civil Procedure Code in 2013, which harmonized the Romanian arbitration legislation with the most evolved trends. As culmination of the latest changes to meet the demand of placing Romania on the current international arbitration map as a suitable place to conduct a modern arbitration process tailored to trends, and to promote a sustainable arbitral system for the future, the Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania recently adopted new Rules of arbitration developed from good practices and international rules in the field.

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