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ARGENTINA 4
. Cámara Nacional de Apelaciones en lo Civil y Comercial Federal, Chamber IV, 1 March 2011
(Smit International SA v. Puerto Mariel SA)
ARGENTINA 4
In a domestic context, the Court referred the parties to arbitration in Argentina, finding that it was irrelevant that the validity of the main contract was disputed. The Court could fill the gap in the law on domestic arbitration, which does not provide expressly for the separability of the arbitration clause, by reference to this principle as recognized in the New York Convention and by courts deciding international commercial arbitration cases.
The court discusses the principle of competence-competence, including whether the parties “intended to have arbitrability decided by an arbitrator”, and the separability of the arbitration agreement from the main contract.