Lebanon

Lebanon is a signatory to the New York Convention with a reservation that “the government of Lebanon will apply the convention, on the basis of reciprocity, to the recognition and enforcement of awards made only in the territory of another contracting state.” Lebanon also ratified, among others, the Washington Convention on March 26, 2003.
The arbitral institution based in Lebanon is the Lebanese Arbitration Centre of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon that was founded in 1995, which has its own Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration.
The Arbitration Act was enacted in 1983 and is incorporated in the Code of Civil Procedure as a separate Chapter and its provisions are based on the old French arbitration law (Decrees No. 80-354 of 14 May 1980 and No. 81-500 of 12 May 1981). The Lebanese legislation on arbitration  recognizes all well-established principles of international arbitration.
Article 762 of the Lebanese Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) provides that “contracting parties may insert in their commercial and civil contracts a clause providing that all disputes that may arise from the validity, performance or the interpretation of their contracts will be settled by way of arbitration.” However, there are some exceptions to this Article as there are some disputes that are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of state courts. These include:
1) Questions of personal status, social status and questions of capacity. However, article 1037 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts allows for an exception regarding financial compensation resulting from personal status disputes to be submitted to arbitration. In this case, arbitration is confined to the compensation sought.
2) Non-negotiable personal rights such as the right to human dignity, physical integrity, privacy. However, any dispute relating to monetary compensation associated with those personal rights is arbitrable.
3) Rights of succession.
4) Questions of public policy, which include all matters considered by law as guaranteeing social, economic and political interests.
5) Questions of insolvency (Article 490 of the Code of Commerce).
6) Questions of employment contracts and social security.
7) Contracts for commercial representation (Article 5 of Decree Law no 34 dated 5 August 1967; Court of Cassation decision of 17 July 1997).
For an international arbitration agreement there is no particular requirement in order to be valid other than the parties’ mutual consent. Article 814 CCP provides that the written form for an arbitration agreement is sufficient to obtain the enforcement of the award.
Article 785 of the CCP expressly recognizes the principle of Kompetenz-kompetenz, hence any request submitted to the Lebanese courts to determine an issue relating to an arbitral tribunal’s jurisdiction and competence must be dismissed.
Regarding international arbitrations with the seat in Lebanon, article 812 of the LCCP provides that where an international arbitration is governed by Lebanese law, unless agreed otherwise, provisions relating to domestic arbitration apply.
A court decision granting recognition or enforcement of a domestic or international award rendered in Lebanon is not subject to any recourse (articles 805 and 819 LCCP).
However, a court decision denying recognition or enforcement of a domestic, foreign or international award rendered in Lebanon is subject to appeal (articles 806 and 816 LCCP).
One important requirement concerns administrative contracts, namely, the contracts concluded with the Lebanese state or with other state entities. In domestic administrative contracts, a state or state entity can enter into an arbitration agreement subject to prior authorisation by the Council of Ministers upon a recommendation of either the relevant minister or the relevant regulatory authority. In international administrative contracts, while the law is silent on the necessity of obtaining a prior authorisation from the Council of Ministers, it is recommended to obtain such authorisation in respect to arbitration clauses inserted in such agreements.
In general, domestic courts in Lebanon are well familiar with the arbitral proceedings and the President of the Court of First Instance may act as the judge in support of arbitration if required. Such support includes the appointment of arbitrators where the parties have failed to designate an arbitrator or where designation of an arbitrator is not carried out by the relevant arbitral institution. The Lebanese legislation further provides for the assistance of courts in the absence of an agreed set of institutional rules containing a default mechanism for the constitution of an arbitral tribunal or a mechanism provided for in the arbitration clause itself.
The court that is competent to grant exequatur depends on the nature of dispute. In civil and commercial matters, exequatur requests are filed before the President of the Court of First Instance, either at the place where the award was made, if a domestic award was rendered in Lebanon or in Beirut if the award was rendered outside Lebanon. In administrative matters, exequatur requests should be filed before the President of the Council of State (articles 770, 775,793, 795 and 810 LCCP).
The exequatur application must contain the arbitral award and the arbitration agreement or a certified copy of these documents, irrespective if the award is domestic or foreign. For international awards, the judge will principally verify the existence of the award and that recognition of the award does not manifestly violate Lebanese international public policy (articles 814 and 815 LCCP), that is to be narrowly construed.
In international arbitration, the appeal is not an available recourse and the arbitral award can only be subject to the setting-aside action.
The grounds for annulling awards in international arbitration are set out under article 819 LCCP as follows:
the award has been rendered without an arbitration agreement or on the basis of an agreement that is null or void due to the expiry of the relevant time limit for rendering the award;
the award has been rendered by arbitrators not appointed in accordance with the law;
the arbitrators ruled without complying with the mission conferred upon them;
the award has been delivered without due respect of rights of defense; and
the award has violated provisions of international public policy.
Hence, private actors investing in Lebanon benefit from the protection of a number of international investment agreements and from other treaties with investment provisions, which provide for recourse to arbitration in case of dispute. These include:
52 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) signed by Lebanon, 43 of which are in force;
the free trade agreement between the European Free Trade Association States and Lebanon;
the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Agreement of 1981; and
the Arab Investment Agreement of 1980.

The legislative landscape in Lebanon is evolving positively towards encouraging recourse to arbitration and other ADR mechanisms. In addition to the laws described above, a recent Lebanese judicial mediation Law No. 82 of 2018 Law introduced judicial mediation to Lebanon for the first time.
By ensuring better protection of investors and business actors in Lebanon and encouraging recourse to ADR, the Lebanese authorities are creating an increasingly friendly environment for large projects and investments in the country.
Recently a more permissible approach towards the arbitrability of disputes is maintained by legislator and new development concerns enactment of Law No. 48 ‘Regulating Public Private Partnerships’ (the PPP Law) on 7 September 2017. One of the most significant innovations of this Law is that it expressly allows recourse to arbitration in disputes involving state entities. In addition, the recent legislative developments in Lebanon, regulating public–private partnerships as well as oil and gas investments in Lebanon, further promote the use of arbitration as a primary mechanism for the resolution of disputes with the Lebanese state.