Issues of Jurisdiction in Argentina

Issues of jurisdiction are core to arbitration law and practice. Without jurisdiction, arbitral tribunals do not enjoy the authority to impose a decision on the parties in dispute. This book chapter introduces and discusses some salient issues of arbitral jurisdiction in Argentina. The country’s legal framework and court practice recognize four well-known tools that strengthen arbitral jurisdiction. The first two are (i) competence-competence of the arbitral tribunal; and (ii) separability of the arbitration clause. Although competence-competence and separability enjoy in Argentina a similar statutory recognition than in other counties, the legal framework that regulates the timing and the forum to determine jurisdictional issues vary significantly where the arbitration is domestic or international. The other two tools that relate to the timing and opportunity to raise jurisdictional objections, and their decision are (iii) the possibility to commence or continue arbitral proceedings while a jurisdictional issue is contested before a national court; and (iv) a pro-arbitration approach to the interpretation of arbitration agreements. This paper examines those and other jurisdictional issues.