OH NO! MY CONTRACT HAS AN ARBITRATION CLAUSE! OR WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR DISPUTES UNDER THE CONTRACT TO BE REFERRED TO AN ARBITRATION COURT?

I will begin this article with an experiment. You can open any search engine on the internet, like Google, and type in "arbitration court". Below, you'll see search results, namely: Arbitration Court at the BCCI (Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Arbitration Court at the Bulgarian Industrial Association, Arbitration Court Sofia, Arbitration Court at the Legal Assistance Association, and many others. For now, I will set this experiment aside and return to it later.

For the moment, let's focus on the question "What is an arbitration court?"

An arbitration court is a private judicial body that is an alternative to state courts. Several consequences arise from the fact that this body is "private". These are extremely important. First, an arbitration court can review a dispute only if the parties authorize it. The arbitration court has rules it must follow, and it's good for the parties to be familiar with them. Every arbitration court has a fee schedule, which is also good to know. This is not the fee schedule of state courts. It is different. An arbitration court can be institutional (that is, permanent) or ad hoc, meaning one formed to review a specific dispute. When the arbitration court is institutional (permanent), it has an address, administration, authorities, a chairman, and more. When the arbitration court is ad hoc, the situation is different. That's where I'll end with what an arbitration court is.
As in state courts, the process here is adversarial. The dispute is resolved by arbitrators (or an arbitrator) instead of a judge. The arbitrator decides the dispute with a ruling. I will provide more detailed information on these matters later in the article.

The next important question is: what types of disputes can be heard before an arbitration court?

The Civil Procedure Code provides the answer to this question: "Art. 19. (1) The parties to a property dispute can agree for it to be resolved by an arbitration court, except if the dispute concerns property rights or possession of real estate, maintenance, or rights under an employment relationship. (2) The arbitration may have its seat abroad if one of the parties is habitually resident, has its seat according to its constitutive act, or has the actual location of its management abroad."
Property disputes concern assets (i.e., their subject is assessable in money), provided they do not affect property rights on real estate, maintenance, and wages. The remaining disputes are non-arbitrable, meaning you cannot divorce in an arbitration court or divide plots or apartments or seek criminal liability from someone. This is because the listed disputes are non-arbitrable.
The legal framework of arbitration courts in Bulgaria is limited to the Law on international commercial arbitration, which is also applied to domestic arbitrations. International regulation is concentrated in the New York Convention.

What is an arbitration agreement?

Most often, this is a clause in a substantive contract. This clause specifies which court is competent to resolve the disputes under this substantive contract. Through it, the relationship (disputes) under the contract is extracted from the competence of state courts and transferred to private arbitration courts. As I wrote above, every arbitration court (unless it is ad hoc) has an address, authorities, administration, and rules. It is good to accept its rules together with the arbitration court. If the arbitration agreement does not specify which court is authorized to review disputes under the contract, this means the court must be ad hoc. If the arbitration clause specifies the competent arbitration, it means an institutional (permanent) arbitration is intended.
My recommendation is before signing a contract with an arbitration clause, to check a few things: 1) Which arbitration court is mentioned, and how many years it has existed, as well as its reputation; 2) Who are the arbitrators and what is the procedure for appointing them; 3) What are the rates it works with? 4) Familiarize yourself with its rules before accepting the contract. If there is anything concerning in the court's rules, request that the arbitration court at the BCCI or the arbitration court at the Bulgarian Industrial Association have the competence to review the dispute (or another court where transparency of the proceedings and impartiality of the arbitrators are ensured). Pay special attention to regulations regarding the collection, admission, and review of evidence in the proceedings. Correspondingly, never agree to ad hoc arbitration if you do not know the procedure well or do not have a lawyer who knows it excellently.
Usually, if the arbitration clause is done correctly, it should cover all disputes arising from the contract and additional agreements related to it, including disputes regarding validity, invalidity, performance, non-performance, etc. In the specific case, the clause covers only those disputes that are explicitly mentioned. If they are not written, the arbitration court is not competent to review them.

Questions regarding the procedure!

Arbitration proceedings are single-instance. It does not have three instances unlike state courts. Thus, it is relatively quick. It can proceed only with the explicit or implied consent of the parties to the dispute for a limited range of property disputes. The basis for its conduct is the arbitration agreement (or arbitration clause).
Arbitrators decide the dispute with a ruling. The ruling has the force of a court ruling. It is final and not subject to appeal. This decision is difficult to overturn and only on the basis of the Civil Procedure Code, in the order of annulment of enforced decisions. The arbitration ruling binds only the parties and has no impact on third parties. Arbitration cannot act through state coercion, because it is a PRIVATE, not a state body. However, state bodies and courts can be called upon for assistance in pending or instituted arbitration proceedings.
An arbitration ruling can be a basis for enforcement after it has already been rendered. If your arbitration ruling is from a foreign arbitration court and needs to be enforced in Bulgaria, the procedure for recognition and enforcement must be followed. Only the Sofia City Court is competent to recognize and enforce foreign arbitration decisions in Bulgaria.

In conclusion, I return to the experiment at the beginning of the article. There are many different arbitration courts. They are private. To be sure that your interests are protected, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the court's reputation, the reputation of the arbitrators, the procedure for their appointment, questions about fees, and to always review the court's rules. Make sure the arbitration court is not ad hoc. If it is ad hoc, be sure you are very familiar with the procedure. When you want to refer a particular dispute to an arbitration court, make sure your arbitration clause specifies this arbitration as competent, you have accepted (with the arbitration clause) its rules, and that the subject of the dispute falls within the scope of the arbitration clause.
If the court has ruled on a dispute for which it is not competent (or has not been seized, known as ultra petita), the decision is subject to annulment by the Supreme Court of Cassation.