Cepani statistical survey 2023
This yearly report provides a statistical overview of CEPANI arbitration in 2023 and its evolution in comparison with past years.
In this report, you will find information about proceedings administered by CEPANI such as the origin of the Parties, the language and the seat of the arbitration, the constitution of Arbitral Tribunals, statistics on the appointed Arbitrators, the average duration of CEPANI arbitration procedures and more.
The impact of the economic crisis has led to fewer arbitration proceedings initiated in 2023 than in previous years. This was also reflected in other national arbitration institutions.
Furthermore, the general trend of internationalisation has continued its pace; this reflects in the origin of the Parties, the language of the arbitration and the nationality of the appointed Arbitrators.
More striking is the amount in dispute that is generally overall higher than in 2022. Indeed, no less than 46% of the CEPANI arbitration procedures involved cases over one million euros, while in 2022 en 2021 33% of the cases involved a similar claim.
Finally, CEPANI continues its commitment to ensure that each case is handled with the requested efficiency and rapidity and in accordance with the specific needs of the Parties.
Origin of the Parties
In 2023, 43% of the cases were introduced between Belgian Parties, 48% involved at least one Belgian and one international Party, and 9% of the cases involved solely international Parties.
Compared to 2022, procedures involving only international Parties have increased by 6%, procedures involving at least one Belgian and one international Party have increased by 16%, while on the other hand procedures involving exclusively Belgian Parties have decreased by 22%.
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43%Belgium vs Belgium
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48%Belgium vs Int.
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9%Int. vs Int.
International Parties
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2Cyprus
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1Italy
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1Austria
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1Luxembourg
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2United Kingdom
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2Netherlands
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3Germany
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1Taiwan, Province of China
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1Czechia
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1Lebanon
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1Denmark
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2France
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Hong Kong
Language of the arbitral proceedings
In 2023, the French cases have decreased by 35%, while the Dutch cases have increased by 1% and the English cases have increased with no less than 34% in comparison to 2022.
Indeed, 61% of the cases were introduced in English, 17% in Dutch and 22% in French.
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Dutch17%
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French22%
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English61%
Place of the Arbitration
Brussels as place of arbitration is a steady trend.
In 2023, 74% of the cases have chosen Brussels as seat of their arbitration and 26% of the cases had their seat in another city, which were all located in Belgium.
In comparison to 2022, 84% of the cases had Brussels as seat of arbitration, while 16% of the cases had their seat in another city.
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Brussels74%
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Belgium26%
Nature of dispute
In 2023, 9% of the cases concerned general issues of civil law;
48% related to a service agreement; and
43% related to a share purchase agreement.
In comparison to 2022, share purchase agreement related disputes have increased with 35% (!), while civil law agreement related disputes have decreased with 10% and service agreement related disputes with 9%.
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9%Civil law disputes
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48%Service agreement disputes
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0%Corporate disputes
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43%Share purchase agreement disputes
Amount in dispute
The expedited proceedings (< € 100.000,00) have been very successful (22% of the cases), while cases over 1 million euros have also increased (46% of the CEPANI cases compared to 33% in both 2022 and 2021.
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↓ € 100.000,00 22%
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€ 100.000,00
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€ 200.000,00 14% -
€ 200.000,00
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€ 500.000,00 9% -
€ 500.000,00
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€ 1.000.000,00 9% -
€ 1.000.000,00
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€ 10.000.000,00 32% -
↑ € 10.000.000,00 14%
Arbitral Tribunal
The majority, i.e. 56%, of the Arbitral Tribunals were composed of a Sole Arbitrator. 44% of the Tribunals were composed of three Arbitrators.
In comparison to 2022, 69% of Sole Arbitrators were appointed.
This evolution marks an important change compared to the previous years where a majority of the Arbitral Tribunals were composed of three Arbitrators.
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Chairman44%
- 86% Chosen by parties
- 14% Appointments by Committee
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Sole Arbitrator56%
- 22% Chosen by parties
- 78% Appointments by Committee
Woman in Arbitration
In 2023, 23% of the Arbitrators appointed were women, 43% of which were appointed by the CEPANI Appointments Committee and 57% directly by the Parties.
In 2020, 15% of the appointed Arbitrators were women. In 2021, 35% of them were women and in 2022 40%.
Subtle precision, these numbers take into consideration ALL the appointments made in 2023, meaning confirmations by the Appointments Committee of Party appointed Co-Arbitrators or Party appointed Sole Arbitrators/Chairs along with the appointments made by the Appointments Committee itself. When taking into consideration only the appointments made by the Appointments Committee itself (thus excluding all confirmations of Party appointed Arbitrators), 37,50% of these appointments are women in 2023.
As we know, increasing diversity in arbitrations does not depend only on the institutions but also on the Parties.
Youngsters in Arbitration
40yo 13%
In 2023, 13% of the Arbitrators appointed were below 40 years old.
75% of them were appointed by the CEPANI Appointments Committee, 25% by the Parties.
On the basis of the closed procedures:
In 2023, an arbitration procedure administrated under the CEPANI Arbitration Rules lasted 15 months, calculated as follows: