Coimbra Court of Appeal | Arbitration Costs | Application of judicial costs to arbitral proceedings

According to Art. 42(5) of the LAV (Law no. 63/2011, of 14/12), and provided that there is no agreement to the contrary, the arbitral award must decide upon the allocation, between the parties, of the costs directly arising from the arbitration.
The Legal Regulation of the Judicial Procedural Costs is not applicable to arbitral proceedings.
The specific rules that apply to disputes submitted to arbitration and the specific nature of the costs thereof exclude the application of the Legal Regulation of the Judicial Procedural Costs to arbitral proceedings. Hence, the provisions of this Legal Regulation related to the parties’ costs and its inclusion in the court’s decision related to the judicial costs can only be taken into account in regard to the judicial phase of the proceedings.
Thus, if the arbitral award is subject to an appeal before the state courts, the costs of the party are reimbursed according to the Legal Regulation, but only limited to the judicial phase of the procedure, since only in relation to the judicial procedures the Legal Regulation on Judicial Procedural Costs can apply. In that case, the costs of the arbitral proceedings shall not be included in the costs of the judicial procedure.

Coimbra Court of Appeal | Arbitration Costs | Application of judicial costs to arbitral proceedings | Case #96