Venezuela is a federal state. However, arbitration is regulated

exclusively by federal legislation. The Venezuelan Commercial

Arbitration Law (Ley de Arbitraje Comercial), published in the Official

Gazette Nr. 36.430 of 7 April 1998, was drafted after the 1985 version of

the UNCITRAL Model Law. Nonetheless, as we shall see in the

following pages, the Commercial Arbitration Law shows significant

divergences with the UNCITRAL Model Law. According to the general

opinion of Venezuelan commentators and case law, the Commercial

Arbitration Law applies to domestic and international arbitration,

regardless of a specific and express provision in the Commercial

Arbitration Law or in any other law1 The Commercial Arbitration Law is

the first comprehensive autonomous statute on the subject in Venezuela,

and supersedes to a very large extent the provisions on arbitration

(arbitramento) contained in the 1986 Code of Civil Procedure (Código de

Procedimiento Civil). Following the enactment of the Commercial

Arbitration Law, courts have dealt intensively with the Law. Case law

emanated from the Supreme Court of Justice has played a major and

most significant role in interpreting and re-shaping the Law, particularly

the opinions rendered by its Constitutional Division, some of which have

the authority of binding precedents on all courts pursuant to Article 335

of the Constitution. Only a subsequent ruling of the Constitutional

Division can overrule a former binding precedent. Regarding interimmeasures

the Commercial Arbitration Law replicates Article 17 of the