International Construction Law Review
NEW RULES FOR DANISH BUILDING ARBITRATION 2010
IRENE WITTRUP
Lawyer, member of the Arbitration Board
1. INTRODUCTION
In Denmark disputes concerning construction law are normally decided by a permanent court of arbitration called the Voldgiftsretten for Bygge- og Anlægsvirksomhed (the Building and Construction Arbitration Court) or VBA. Contrary to most other disputes which are normally decided by the ordinary courts of justice a decision by the VBA is final and cannot be appealed. Utilisation of the VBA is by agreement amongst the parties involved and is not mandated by law.
The VBA is a stipulation of document AB 92 (General Terms for Building and Construction Work) which is an agreement most commonly in use between an employer and a contractor for contracts of substantial value. AB 92 states that disputes should be solved by using the VBA.
Similarly, all major contracts between an employer, the architect and the engineer are based on an agreed document called ABR 89 (General Conditions for Consulting Services). This document also prescribes that disputes should be resolved by the VBA.
2. THE VBA
2.1 The arbitrators
Parties involved in building disputes prefer the VBA to the ordinary courts because the VBA makes use of arbitrators with technical backgrounds. Co-operation between legal and expert arbitrators is very important in construction law disputes, because an understanding of the legal issues as well as technical circumstances is essential to solve effectively the specialised details of a construction law dispute.
Normally the legal arbitrators of the VBA are judges in one of the two High Courts or in the Supreme Court of Denmark, although holding a
The International Construction Law Review [2012
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