Arbitration breaks record in the pandemic and Brazil ranks second in the world ranking
By Antonio Augusto A. de Andrade
According to research, the increase in the number of new arbitration procedures is related to the economic repercussions of the health crisis and legislative innovations
In recent years, there has been a significant expansion in the use of arbitration as a dispute resolution method, a phenomenon that can be seen not only in the increase in the number of new proceedings filed, but also in the high amounts involved.
According to the survey ‘Arbitration in numbers’, produced by professor and lawyers Selma Lemes, by the end of 2021, 1,047 procedures were pending in the eight chambers* surveyed, an increase of 5% compared to 2020. In the last two years, 655 new arbitrations were instituted, whose disputed amounts add up to R$ 55.2 billion.
The widespread adoption of this dispute resolution method is also reflected in foreign institutions: Brazil is already the second country with the highest number of active proceedings at the International Court of Arbitration, second only to the United States.
In this scenario, contractual conflicts stand out, in view of the economic repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic on the fulfillment of legal transactions, and corporate disputes, arising from controversies related to the sale of shares, relationship between partners and compliance with agreements of shareholders, for example.
In addition, recent legislative innovations have also led to the adoption of arbitration in new sectors, such as labor disputes, which came into effect from Law No. 13,467/2017, and sports, from Law No. 14,193/2021.
Finally, procedures involving the Public Administration have also contributed to the increase in the number of arbitrations in recent years, especially involving claims for the economic and financial rebalancing of concession contracts, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and Public Investment Partnerships (PPI) .