PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: María de Lourdes Marengo and Joaquín De Obarrio, Patton Moreno & Asvat
and accepted – and therefore enforceable – by the courts of the Republic of Panama, without retrial or examination of the merits of the original action, by instituting exequatur proceedings in the courts of the Republic of Panama upon determination by such courts that: • the courts of the judgment country would in similar circumstances recognise a final and conclusive judgment of the courts of the Republic of Panama; • the judgment has been issued as a consequence of an action “in personam”; • the judgment was rendered after personal service on the defendant as ordered by a judge of a com - petent jurisdiction; • the cause of action upon which the judgment was based does not contravene the public policy of the Republic of Panama; • the documents evidencing the judgment are in authentic form according to the laws of the relevant foreign country and have been duly legalised by a consul of the Republic of Panama or pursuant to the 1961 Hague Convention on the Apostille; and • a copy of the final judgment has been translated into Spanish by a licensed translator in the Repub - lic of Panama. Arbitration Awards A final conclusive judgment of a foreign arbitration award issued by a foreign arbitration tribunal rendered against a Panamanian company will generally be rec - ognised and enforced in the courts of the Republic of Panama. Such an award may only be refused if one of the following circumstances occurs. • At the request of the party against whom it is invoked, if the said party proves before the General Business Court of the Supreme Court of Justice one of the following: (a) One of the parties to the arbitration agree - ment was under some incapacity under the law applicable to it, or the said agreement is not valid pursuant to the law to which the parties subjected it or, if no provision was made in this regard, pursuant to the law of the country in which the award was rendered. (b) The party against whom the award is invoked was not given proper notice of the appointment
of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was unable, for whatever reason, to present its defence. (c) The award refers to a dispute that was not contemplated by the arbitration agreement or that did not fall within the terms of the submis- sion to arbitration or contains decisions that go beyond the scope of the arbitration clause or the submission to arbitration. If, however, the provisions of the award which refer to the mat - ters submitted to arbitration can be separated from those that have not been submitted to arbitration, the former may be recognised and enforced). (d) The constitution of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral proceedings did not conform to the agreement entered into between the parties or, if there is none, it did not conform to the law of the country in which the arbitration was held. (e) The award has not yet become binding on the parties or has been set aside or stayed by a court of the country in which it was made or pursuant to whose law it was made. If a court has been asked to set aside the award pursu - ant to the applicable law, the competent court to whom the application for recognition and enforcement is addressed may, if it considers it appropriate to do so, defer its decision and at the request of the party seeking recognition and enforcement it may also order the other party to provide appropriate and adequate guarantees. • If the court finds: (a) that pursuant to the Arbitration Law the sub - ject matter of the dispute may not be resolved through arbitration; and/or (b) that the recognition or enforcement of the award would be contrary to Panamanian inter - national public policy. • If the following documents are not provided with the enforcement petition: (a) duly authenticated original or certified copy of the arbitration award; (b) duly authenticated original or certified copy of the arbitration agreement; and (c) official translation into Spanish if the language of the arbitration proceedings is other than Spanish.
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