An arbitration clause contained in a contract is validly enforceable against a party who has succeeded to it with the consent of the original counterparty, so that the ordinary court must declare its lack of jurisdiction in favour of the arbitrator designated by the clause itself, pursuant to Article 819-ter of the Code of Civil Procedure, where the relevant objection is raised by the defendant and not contested by the claimant.
Where the court declares itself without jurisdiction following an objection based on an arbitration agreement raised by the defendant and not contested by the claimant, the costs of the proceedings may be entirely set off, given that the operation of the arbitration clause is within the parties' disposition as regards the individual dispute, pursuant to Article 819-ter, paragraph 1, of the Code of Civil Procedure, and that therefore the commencement of proceedings before the ordinary court by the claimant cannot appear arbitrary in itself.
The presence of an arbitration clause in some of the contracts at issue in the proceedings does not result in the entire dispute being drawn into arbitration, the court being required to declare its lack of jurisdiction solely in respect of the claims founded on the contractual relationships containing the arbitration clause, whilst for the remaining claims the different applicable jurisdiction criterion operates.