The arbitration clause constitutes a form of conventional derogation from the jurisdiction of the state court and takes the form of a plea of lack of jurisdiction ratione materiae or ratione valoris, subject to the peremptory time limits under Article 38 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
In proceedings opposing a payment order, the opponent must raise the plea of lack of jurisdiction based on an arbitration clause in the first available pleading, constituted by the writ of summons under Article 645(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, failing which jurisdiction vests in the court seized.
Arbitral jurisdiction, being founded solely on the will of the parties, is not assimilable to subject-matter jurisdiction and is therefore not capable of being raised by the court of its own motion under Article 38(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure, the parties being able to exclude it by commencing ordinary proceedings or by failing to raise the plea of arbitration.