Cour de cassation, First Civil Chamber, 8 April 2009, Geduder v Corema - French International Arbitration Law Reports: 2009
About the Editors:
Philippe Pinsolle is a partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP in Paris, and specializes in international arbitration. He has been involved, as counsel or arbitrator, in more than a hundred and fifty international arbitrations, both institutional (ICC, ICSID, LCIA, SCC, AFA, Swiss Rules, etc.) and ad hoc, concerning such activities as investment, oil and gas, energy, telecom or defense industry. He is a member of the Paris Bar and of the Bar of England & Wales (Gray's Inn). He is a lecturer on international arbitration at the Universities of Aix-Marseille III, Versailles-St Quentin and Paris 12. Mr. Pinsolle is the former President of the International Arbitration commission of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) and a co-founder of the Young Arbitration Practitioners (YAP). He is the author of numerous articles and case-notes on international arbitration. He holds a J.D. degree from the university of Paris II, a M.Jur. from Oxford University, Hertford College, and an MBA degree from Essec.
Professor Thomas Clay is the Dean of the Versailles Law School and Director of its LLM in International Arbitration in collaboration with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the only French-language program in international arbitration. A member of the French Arbitration Committee and of the International Arbitration Institute and other institutions, Professor Clay is the author of various books and articles on arbitration, including "The Arbitrator", a treatise on the duties and obligations of arbitrators. He writes a regular column Arbitration Law in the weekly legal journal Dalloz. He also participates in numerous conferences throughout the world on international arbitration and has an extensive practice in arbitration in French, Spanish, English and Italian, collaborating with the ICC, other French institutions, the Milan Arbitration Court, and in Africa and South America. He is also member of the Jurisdiction of Professional Soccer League and Arbitrator in the French Sport Arbitration Chamber.
Thomas Voisin is an Associate in Shearman & Sterling's International Arbitration group. He has advised on numerous commercial and investor-State arbitrations. He is a member of the Paris Bar. He graduated from the University Panthéon-Assas (Paris II) and holds an M.Jur. from Oxford University.
Originally from French International Arbitration Law Reports: 2009
The Cour de Cassation, First Civil Chamber, has rendered the following decision:
On the various prongs of the sole ground :
In light of the kompetenz-kompetenz principle;
Whereas arbitrators have jurisdiction to rule on their jurisdiction unless the arbitration agreement is manifestly void or inapplicable;
Whereas in 1993 the German company Geduder Funke, the rights of which have now been transferred to Gefu Kuchenboss Gmbh und Co Kg (Gefu Kuchenboss), entered into an agents contract with the French company Corema for the sale of products that it manufactured; that the contract included an arbitration agreement providing for the resolution of disputes by an arbitrator jointly appointed by the parties within three months of notification of the dispute, and in the event that it was not possible to set up an arbitration, granting jurisdiction to the Toulouse commercial court: that as Gefu Kuchenboss terminated the contract, Corema appointed an arbitrator in a letter and then seized the Toulouse commercial court; that Gefu Kuchenboss and Gefu Geschats-und Verwaltungs invoked the arbitration agreement;