An arbitration clause, although contained in a contract, constitutes an agreement endowed with functional autonomy, intended to govern the manner of resolution of disputes between the parties, and such autonomy entails its survival even in the event of invalidity, ineffectiveness or termination of the contract to which it is attached, unless it is specifically affected by a ground of invalidity of its own.
The termination of the contract exercised by the insolvency administrator under art. 72 of the Insolvency Act does not, of itself, bring about the extinction of the arbitration clause contained therein, which retains its effectiveness in relation to disputes concerning rights that had already arisen during the life of the contractual relationship.
The insolvency administrator who acts for the recovery of credits already belonging to the insolvent debtor exercises a right found in the latter’s estate, placing himself in the same substantive and procedural position as the original debtor, with the consequence that the counterparty may raise against him the objection based on the arbitration clause.