Chapter II Arbitration Agreement

①Except as otherwise provided for in laws and regulations, an arbitration agreement is effective only when its subject is a civil dispute (excluding disputes of divorce or dissolution of adoptive relation) which can be settled between the parties.

②An arbitration agreement must be in writing, such as in the form of a document signed by all the parties, letters or telegrams exchanged between the parties (including those sent by facsimile device or other communication measures for parties at a distance which provides the recipient with a written record of the communicated content), or other documents.

③If a document containing a clause of an arbitration agreement is quoted in a contract concluded in writing as constituting part of the contract, that arbitration agreement is deemed to be made in writing.

④If an arbitration agreement is made in an electronic or magnetic record (meaning a record used in computerized information processing which is created in an electronic form, magnetic form, or any other form that cannot be perceived by the human senses; the same applies in paragraph (6)) recording its contents, that arbitration agreement is deemed to be made in writing.

⑤In an arbitration procedure, if a written allegation that a party has submitted contains the contents of an arbitration agreement, and another written allegation that the other party has submitted in response to the allegation in question does not contain anything to dispute the contents of the arbitration agreement, the arbitration agreement is deemed to be made in writing.

⑥If a document or electronic or magnetic record including a written or recorded clause of an arbitration agreement is quoted in a contract that is not concluded in writing as constituting a part of that contract, the arbitration agreement is deemed to be made in writing.

⑦In regard to a contract containing an arbitration agreement, even if the clauses of the contract other than that of the arbitration agreement are not valid due to nullity or rescission or for any other reasons, the validity of the arbitration agreement is not automatically impaired.

①If an action is filed for a civil dispute which is subject to an arbitration agreement, the court in charge of the case must dismiss the action without prejudice upon the petition of the defendant; provided, however, that this does not apply to the following cases:

②Even while a suit related to the action referred to in the preceding paragraph is pending in the court, an arbitral tribunal may commence or continue the arbitration procedure and make an arbitral award.

An arbitration agreement does not preclude the parties from filing a petition for a provisional order with the court before the commencement or during the course of the arbitration procedure in regard to the civil dispute that is the subject of the arbitration agreement, and does not preclude the court that has received the petition from issuing a provisional order.