An application to set aside an award for nullity under art. 829 of the Code of Civil Procedure constitutes a challenge of limited scope, admissible solely for errores in iudicando and errores in procedendo within the limits exhaustively provided by the provision. The court may annul the award only on the basis of the defects listed in art. 829 of the Code of Civil Procedure and, only upon a declaration of nullity, may re-examine the merits of the dispute.
The nullity of an arbitral award for breach of the principle of audi alteram partem must be assessed not from a formal standpoint, but by ascertaining whether there has been an actual impairment of the ability to plead and to answer, with the applicant bearing the burden of identifying the specific prejudice caused to the right of defence.
A defective statement of reasons in the award, as a defect falling under art. 829, No. 5, of the Code of Civil Procedure, may be found only where the reasoning is entirely absent or so deficient as to preclude identification of the ratio of the decision, amounting to a non-reasoning.
A complaint of nullity of the award for misapplication of rules of law in iudicando is admissible only within the same bounds as a complaint of misapplication of law in a cassation appeal under art. 360, paragraph 1, No. 3, of the Code of Civil Procedure; accordingly, a ground alleging errors in the evaluation of facts and evidence in the arbitration proceedings is inadmissible, since such evaluation has been contractually entrusted to the arbitrators.