Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Spain: challenging court jurisdiction in favour of arbitration (declinatoria), stays, appeals, costs, anti-suit injunctions, and mandatory mediation (SRAC)

Published by a LexisNexis Arbitration expert

Practice notes

Under section 6.3 of the Spanish Civil Procedure Rules 2000 (CPR) and section 11.1 of the Spanish Arbitration Act 2003 (AA), where a claimant issues proceedings in the first instance courts in relation to a dispute that, by reason of a valid arbitration agreement, ought to be determined by an arbitral tribunal, the defendant may contest the court’s competence by lodging a ‘declinatoria de jurisdicción’, or simply ‘declinatoria’. This ‘jurisdictional challenge application’ (also called ‘the declinatoria application’) is a request for an order stating that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case and thereby enforcing the parties’ agreement to arbitrate and to have the arbitral tribunal hear the dispute.

Procedure for disputing the court’s jurisdiction

As the court cannot raise a jurisdictional objection of its own motion (‘de oficio’), the onus lies on the defendant to do so. The defendant has a short period of ten working days, running from the date on which the claim is served on the defendant by the court, to object to the court’s jurisdiction on the basis of the arbitration agreement by filing the jurisdictional challenge application...

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Josep Gálvez

4-5 Gray’s Inn Square

Josep is a fully qualified barrister and former Judge in Spanish civil & commercial courts currently admitted to practice in the Bars of England & Wales (Lincoln's Inn), Madrid and Barcelona (Spanish Abogado). With extensive experience in litigation and arbitration matters in various industries, Josep has advised and represented clients in commercial and corporate disputes focusing on M&A post-closing conflicts, contractual breach, antitrust litigation and enforcement of judgments, among other areas.He is ranked in the leading directories for civil and commercial complex cross-border dispute resolution and international arbitration. He has considerable experience concerning freezing injunctions and judgements enforcement. Josep is particularly noted for his cross-examination skills.Most of Josep's work has a strong international element, with his clients coming from all around the world, particularly from the United Kingdom and the USA. The cases on which he is instructed often raise complex...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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