The Arbitration Court may hear and decide both national and international disputes arising out of transactions concluded on the Czech Moravian Commodity Exchange in Kladno, as well as disputes following from OTC transactions involving commodities in which the Exchange is authorised to trade, and the related services.

For details, we refer to Section 1 of the Rules of the Arbitration Court; a list of commodities traded on the Czech Moravian Commodity Exchange can be found in the section Arbitration Court.

An arbitral award, i.e. a decision of the Arbitration Court, is final and enforceable (with a very few exceptions where the parties agreed on review by other arbitrators). This means that if a party required by an arbitral award to do something fails to perform the duty by the set deadline, the entitled party may turn to the court with an application to initiate enforcement proceedings based on the award – an arbitral award is an enforcement title.

International disputes will be governed by the New York Convention (Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, promulgated under No. 74/1959 Coll.), which provides for enforceability of arbitral awards abroad.

The arbitration clause published on the website of the Arbitration Court is only a model example. It may be modified in various ways as required. The parties may further arrange, for example, that:

1. the arbitral proceedings will be held only on the basis of written underlying documents without an oral hearing (Section 28 (1) of the Rules)
2. the arbitral award will be rendered without a written reasoning (Section 28 (2) of the Rules)
3. the dispute will be resolved according to the principles of equity (Section 9 (2) of the Rules)

Yes, this is possible in the form of an amendment. Such an amendment can be as follows, for example:

The Parties have agreed to execute Amendment ... to Agreement No. ... dated ... with the following wording: “Any and all disputes arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be finally resolved in accordance with the Rules of the International Arbitration Court of the Czech Commodity Exchange, which is a permanent arbitration court under Section 13 of Act No. 216/1994 Coll., on arbitral proceedings and enforcement of arbitral awards, by one or three arbitrators appointed in accordance with the Rules.”

In ……..…., on ….……

A one-off fee is paid for hearing a case in arbitration before the Arbitration Court; the fee is not increased if several oral hearings are held. The fee for hearing a domestic dispute generally amounts to 4% of the value of the dispute, but not exceeding CZK 1,000,000, and is payable by the claimant. The amount of the fee in international disputes is determined in view of the value of the dispute. The exact rules for assessing the fee can be found in the document titled “Principles Governing the Costs”.

Along with the arbitration fee, a fixed amount is paid to cover the costs of the Arbitration Court – this amount is further specified in the Tariff of Costs for Domestic Disputes and the Tariff of Costs for International Disputes. Should any further costs arise in hearing a specific case, e.g. due to payment of fees to experts or interpreters, these costs also have to be paid. The losing party is usually ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings as part of the award.

The procedure is similar as if you were filing a lawsuit in court. The requisites of a statement of claim can be found in Sections 18 and 19 of the Rules of the Arbitration Court.

The required number of counterparts and the language of documents to be submitted to the Arbitration Court are specified in Section 7 of the Rules.

The claim will be heard only if the arbitration fee and the fixed amount for payment of the administrative costs of the Arbitration Court have been paid. If you do not determine the amount of the arbitration fee and the fixed amount for payment of the administrative costs of the Arbitration Court yourselves based on the Principles Governing the Costs and the Tariff of Costs for Domestic Disputes or Tariff of Costs for International Disputes, as appropriate, and do not pay the thus-determined amounts when filing your claim, you will be requested to pay the above by the Arbitration Court.

The International Arbitration Court of the Czech Commodity Exchange is authorised to hear and decide both domestic and international disputes following from OTC transactions involving commodities traded on the Czech Moravian Commodity Exchange in Kladno. A list of commodities traded on the Czech Moravian Commodity Exchange can be found in the section Arbitration Court. If you trade in the above commodities, you may refer your disputes to the International Arbitration Court of the Czech Commodity Exchange.

You need not agree with the Arbitration Court in any way or register with the Court in advance. You will simply include an arbitration clause in the contracts you conclude.

For contracts that have already been executed, an arbitration clause may be added by means of an amendment.

Even if a dispute has already arisen and your contract does not comprise an arbitration clause, under Section 2 (3)(a) of Act No. 216/1994 Coll., on arbitral proceedings and enforcement of arbitral awards, you can enter into an arbitrator agreement and thus arrange that your dispute will be heard and decided before the International Arbitration Court of the Czech Commodity Exchange.