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Proceedings

In order to initiate arbitral proceedings, a request for arbitration must be submitted to the NAI Secretariat. The request is to be submitted by e-mail (secretariaat@nai-nl.org), unless submission by e-mail is impossible for the requesting party. Attachments must be sent along by e-mail. The request may be brief and it is not tied to a particular format. However, certain particulars must be mentioned in the request and a copy of the arbitration agreement must have been added to the request. The parties involved should be mentioned unambiguously and completely. Arbitration may also be requested online. Finally, you can download an arbitration request form here; however, parties are not required to use this form.

Course of the proceedings

Following receipt of the request for arbitration, the Netherlands Arbitration Institute sends it to the respondent by e-mail, who is given the opportunity to submit a short answer within fourteen days. The respondent sends the short answer to the NAI by e-mail, unless this is impossible for the respondent.

After the arbitrator(s) has/have been appointed, the claimant and respondent are given the opportunity to present a statement of claim and a statement of defence, respectively, possibly followed by a second exchange of statements.

Then the oral hearing takes place, in which the parties and/or counsel may further argue their positions.

Award

After the hearing, the award is laid down in writing (if three arbitrators have been appointed, following their deliberation). Each party receives a copy of the award from the Netherlands Arbitration Institute. The arbitral award granted in this way is binding on all parties.

An award by an arbitral tribunal may be easily declared enforceable by means of leave for enforcement granted by the provisional relief judge. An arbitral award thereby obtains the same force as a court judgment.

Summary arbitral proceedings

NAI summary arbitral proceedings are comparable to summary proceedings before a court. Summary proceedings result in provisional relief rather than in a final decision on the merits. Summary proceedings may be requested without any proceedings on the merits having been commenced (independent summary arbitral proceedings) and during pending proceedings. The NAI ensures that arbitrators in summary proceedings make an award within a very brief time-limit. The NAI appoints the arbitrator within one working day of receipt of the request for the summary proceedings. When inviting the arbitrator, the NAI ascertains that the arbitrator has sufficient time to complete the proceedings in full within a month and, if necessary, within a much shorter period of time. If a case needs to be handled at very short notice, the case will be handled at very short notice and the NAI will appoint an arbitrator who, considering the interests of all parties, is able to take a decision in the very short term.

The NAI does not offer separately arranged expedited arbitration, i.e. an expedited decision on a dispute. It is, however, possible to expedite arbitral proceedings by reducing certain time-limits or omitting certain steps in the process. This may be laid down in the arbitration clause or agreed by the parties after the dispute has arisen.