Under the principle of Competence-competence, the arbitral tribunal to which a dispute that was subject to an arbitration agreement is submitted, is empowered to decide on its own competence, so that prior to issuing an award on the merits, it must study the existence and validity of the arbitration agreement.
Under this perspective, the exhibition of the arbitration agreement required by Article 1461 of the Code of Commerce as an unavoidable requirement for the enforcement of an arbitration award, could result in an indirect questioning of the principle of Competence-competence, since the issuance of an arbitration award presupposes the existence of a valid arbitration agreement.
