Pablo Salvador Coderch Succeeds Pierre Raoul-Duval as TAPA President in Andorra

Pablo Salvador Coderch has taken over as president of the Tribunal d’Arbitratge del Principat d’Andorra (TAPA), replacing Pierre Raoul-Duval after five years at the helm.

The handover occurred during an institutional event attended by representatives from Andorra’s legal, economic, and public sectors. Raoul-Duval, who will remain linked to the body as honorary president, led the institution since its creation in 2021 by the Col·legi d’Advocats and the Cambra de Comerç. His tenure focused on building the TAPA’s structure from scratch, developing an arbitral regulation aligned with international standards, and promoting arbitration among businesses, lawyers, and institutions.

Key features of the regulation include handling proceedings in Catalan, Spanish, French, or English without translations. Raoul-Duval noted that these efforts followed the 2018 law establishing the framework, with the final regulation approved in 2023. Despite over a hundred promotional meetings, the TAPA has yet to receive any cases, a situation officials describe as normal for such bodies, which typically see their first disputes between the fifth and eighth years of operation.

The outgoing president expressed optimism, stating that initial cases are expected soon once parties include arbitration clauses in contracts and disputes arise. He highlighted the TAPA’s potential to serve the Spanish- and French-speaking world, emphasizing faster, cheaper, and more flexible resolutions than ordinary courts.

Salvador Coderch, a Spanish jurist, international arbitrator, and academic with experience at the International Chamber of Commerce, called the TAPA a strategic national project. He stressed that adoption requires time for awareness, contract inclusion, and conflict emergence. The body handles private law disputes—civil, commercial, or patrimonial—only with prior agreement via contractual clauses.

Salvador Coderch outlined arbitration’s benefits: specialized arbitrators for technical issues, quicker outcomes, agreement-focused processes, and greater confidentiality than public judicial proceedings. He positioned it as complementary to regular courts.

Col·legi d’Advocats dean Margarida Marticella urged businesses to use it as a modern conflict-resolution tool. Cambra de Comerç president Josep Maria Mas described the TAPA as an ambitious initiative enhancing Andorra’s legal security. Interior, Economy, Work, and Housing Minister Conxita Marsol closed the event.

The new leadership aims to build business trust in alternative dispute resolution and strengthen Andorra’s role in international arbitration.