Yesterday, the Federal Government published the government draft of a bill to modernise German arbitration law and to introduce further amendments to the German Code of Civil Procedure in the field of international civil procedure (see Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Modernisierung des Schiedsverfahrensrechts). The current draft builds on the ministerial draft issued by the Federal Ministry of Justice on 27 January 2026, which itself largely revived the reform proposal that had already been prepared during the previous legislative period but ultimately lapsed under the principle of discontinuity following the collapse of the governing coalition (see our previous blog article: Modernisation of German Arbitration Law: Key Changes in the January 2026 Draft | ADVANT Beiten). With the publication of the government draft, the reform has moved one step further in the legislative process.
The draft largely corresponds to the January 2026 ministerial draft, with only a limited number of amendments having been introduced.
Rather than revisiting the principal reforms discussed in our earlier articles, this update highlights a few further developments of practical importance.
The January draft provided that German courts could not only declare interim measures ordered by arbitral tribunals enforceable but also revoke such measures. The government draft abandons the latter approach. Under Sec. 1041 (2) ZPO-Draft, courts are now limited to granting leave for enforcement, while the power to terminate or amend interim measures remains with the arbitral tribunal itself. This amendment further strengthens the autonomy of arbitral proceedings.
Sec. 1054 ZPO-Draft has been amended with regard to electronic signatures. Whereas the previous draft required qualified electronic signatures, the government draft now places advanced electronic signatures on an equal footing with qualified electronic signatures. This adjustment reflects commercial practice and avoids unnecessarily high technical requirements that could have impeded the practical use of electronic awards.
The newly introduced retrial mechanism in Sec. 1059a ZPO-Draft has also been revised. Once invoked by a party, the relevant grounds are considered by the court ex officio , and the subsequent discovery of documents no longer constitutes an independent ground for reopening proceedings. The amendment further limits the exceptional character of the remedy and reinforces the principle of finality of arbitral awards.
Another noteworthy clarification concerns Sec. 1063a (2) ZPO-Draft. Arbitration-related court proceedings may now be conducted in English even where the matter has not been assigned to a Commercial Court. This extension further promotes Germany's attractiveness as a place for international arbitration and recognises the practical importance of English as the working language of many arbitral proceedings.
The government draft confirms the overall direction of the reform and leaves the substance of the January 2026 proposal largely untouched. The amendments introduced by the Federal Government are limited in number, but they demonstrate a continued effort to balance digitalisation, procedural efficiency and party autonomy while preserving the finality and integrity of arbitral proceedings.
With the reform now proceeding through the legislative process, no fundamental changes appear to be expected. The latest amendments therefore provide a strong indication of the shape that the modernised German arbitration framework is likely to take. Together with the broader reform package discussed in our previous articles, they further support Germany's ambition to strengthen its position as a competitive place for international arbitration.
