GEORGIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Lasha Nodia, Giorgi Kekenadze and Ani Akophashvili, Nodia, Urumashvili and Partners
10. The Award 10.1 Legal Requirements
the testimony in the arbitration proceedings, unless otherwise regulated by the party’s agreement. 8.2 Rules of Evidence The Law of Georgia on Arbitration does not provide for specific rules of evidence. The tribunal, however, is given wide discretionary powers to decide on the admissibility, significance, substance and weight of the evidence. This enables the parties and the tribunal to choose whichever evidentiary rules they consider most appropriate for the nature of the case, including the internationally used International Bar Association Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbi - tration (if that is what the parties have agreed upon). 8.3 Powers of Compulsion Under the Law of Georgia on Arbitration, at any stage of the arbitration proceedings, the arbitral tribunal ‒ or a party, with the consent of the arbitral tribunal ‒ may request assistance from a court in taking evidence. This evidence can be presented to the party or arbitral tribunal at any stage of arbitration proceedings. Furthermore, the arbitral tribunal is authorised to ask the court to ensure the attendance of witnesses. The rights and duties of witnesses summoned by the court are determined in accordance with the Civil Procedure Code of Georgia. As per the Law of Georgia on Arbitration, unless there are specific provisions to the contrary in the law or the parties’ agreement, all arbitration proceedings are required to be confidential. Accordingly, no docu - ments, evidence, or written or oral statements from the proceedings can be published or be transferred for use in any other judicial or administrative proceedings. The duty of confidentiality applies both to arbitrators and to any individuals involved in the arbitration pro - cess. 9. Confidentiality 9.1 Extent of Confidentiality
The Law of Georgia on Arbitration provides that the arbitral award must be in writing and signed by the arbitrator(s). The award must provide information identifying the decision-making arbitrators and the parties, as well as the date and place of rendering of the award. The award must also contain the reason - ing, unless otherwise agreed by the parties or it is rendered via settlement. There are no common restric - tions with regard to the permissible types of relief ‒ although any relief must not be contrary to Georgian public policy. As for time limits, the Law of Georgia on Arbitration provides that ‒ unless otherwise agreed by the par - ties ‒ the arbitration award must be rendered within 180 days after the commencement of the arbitration proceedings. If necessary, the arbitral tribunal may extend this period for no longer than 180 days. How - ever, the same law authorises parties to regulate time limits under their agreement directly, as well as implic - itly via agreed arbitration rules, which may provide On several occasions, appellate courts have partially enforced arbitral awards that entitled a party to an excessive penalty against a natural person under a loan agreement. Specifically, courts have found that excessive penalties (eg, exceeding around 130% of the principal amount of the loan) violate Georgian pub - lic policy; therefore, enforcement will only be granted partially and for a reduced amount. Considering the foregoing, it is highly likely that Geor - gian courts will not enforce awards granting punitive or exemplary damages. As for the simple interest and compound interest, if a court finds that the principle of proportionality is violated or the enforcement of the award would violate public policy, it may refuse rec - ognition and enforcement. 10.3 Recovering Interest and Legal Costs The Law of Georgia on Arbitration does not contain specific provisions on the allocation of costs. There - fore, it is up to the parties to regulate cost allocation shorter or longer time periods. 10.2 Types of Remedies
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