Enforcement Of Foreign Arbitral Awards In Egypt

Arbitration is a type of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), where parties agree to settle their disputes arising out from an agreement or commercial relationship without resorting to court by selecting a third impartial party (Arbitrator) to hear their case and issuing a binding decision upon the parties.

The mechanism of arbitration differs from traditional court proceedings, as the arbitrator(s) and the governing law are chosen by the parties, and the proceedings are expected to be of shorter duration.

The arbitral proceedings aim to achieve accuracy, fairness, efficiency, and a final, binding, and enforceable award, as a result, the principal and main aim in connection with resorting to arbitral proceedings is the mitigation of the stringent, lengthy, and complicated judicial proceedings.

In Egypt, Arbitration, for many years, remained uncodified and was governed by Articles 501 to 513 of the Civil and Commercial Procedural Law, until Law No. 27 of 1994 was issued, governing arbitration in Egypt.

DEFINITION AND NATURE OF ARBITRATION AWARD IN EGYPT

An arbitration award is any written decision issued by an authorized arbitrator or arbitral tribunal with respect to the terms and conditions of the arbitration agreement agreed upon between the parties and adjudicates a substantive or procedural issue per the applicable law or arbitration agreement.

With regard to the nature of arbitral awards, it has to be in writing and signed by the arbitrators, reasoned (unless otherwise agreed by the parties), and it shall include all arbitrator(s) and parties’ data of which a violation results in annulment of the award.

In the same vein, parties have the right to request from the arbitral tribunal an interpretation of the arbitral award within 30 days of the award’s receipt by the parties.

ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN ARBITRATION AWARDS

The enforcement of foreign arbitral awards is governed by the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958, commonly known as the New York Convention, Egypt joined the Convention in 1959, as per Presidential Act No. 171.

New York Convention stipulates that foreign arbitral awards shall be enforced and executed per the laws of the state where recognition and enforcement are sought.

ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN ARBITRATION AWARDS IN EGYPT

On the legal front, the following legislations have the exclusive jurisdiction on governing the aforementioned enforcement as follows:

1. Law No. 13 of 1968 promulgates the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedural (“CCCP”), precisely, Articles 297 to 301 concerning the execution of foreign judgments and awards.
2. Law No. 27 of 1994 promulgates the Law concerning Arbitration in Civil and Commercial Matters (“EAL”) particularly, Articles 9, 55, 56, 57, and 58.

PROCEDURES AND COMPETENT COURT FOR THIS ENFORCEMENT

The competent court to issue an enforcement order differs according to the type of arbitration.

In commercial international awards, the Cairo Court of Appeal will have jurisdiction to enforce the award or any other court of appeal agreed by the parties. Successful appellants benefit from the fact the appeal court’s decision is final and enforceable immediately.

Adversely, in local or national awards, the jurisdiction shall be held to the originally competent court according to applicable laws. Noting that the aforementioned court’s decision will be subject to appeal.

Consequently, successful appellants cannot execute their arbitral award unless the appeal period has expired, or after finishing the appeal proceedings on the court’s decision.

As the legislator requires arbitral tribunals to deliver a copy of the arbitration award signed by the arbitrators to the parties within thirty days of its issuance, the successful appellants, in order to enforce its award, must submit the award or a signed copy to the clerk of the competent court, and the clerk shall issue a report of this submission.

THE COMPETENT COURT’S DECISION AND ITS APPEAL

Applications for arbitral awards enforcement should be submitted after the expiry of 90 days, the period during which an action of annulment can be filed, from the date on which the parties have been notified of this award.

Afterward, the competent court shall decide whether to issue the enforcement order or not. Bearing in mind that the competent judge does not have the jurisdiction to review the award as a matter of law or fact. The judge either affirms or rejects the enforcement order.

Taking into consideration, that the enforcement order must be rejected if the arbitral award:

• Contradicts a previous judgment issued in the same regard by the Egyptian courts (the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt has jurisdiction to rule on this contraction).
• Includes what violates public order in the Arab Republic of Egypt.
• Or the convict has not been notified of this request of enforcement correctly.

Furthermore, pursuant to Article 58 of EAL, the enforcement order refusal decision by the court’s president can be appealed by the award creditor(s) within 30 days from the decision issuance.

On the other hand, the enforcement order approval decision can also be appealed by the party on which the award will be executed within 30 days from the decision issuance.

The enforcement order approval decision must be submitted to the competent court within 30 days from the date of its issuance to seal the award with the enforcement order. In any case, the successful appellants may reapply to obtain an enforcement order.