LEBANON Law and Practice Contributed by: Mohamed Alem, Mazen Ghosn and Rana Kahwagi, Alem & Associates
10. The Award 10.1 Legal Requirements
sion 132/2002). This means that arbitral tribunals have complete discretion in awarding any of the remedies available under Lebanese law. These generally include orders to pay damages, injunctive or declaratory reliefs, awards of interest (see 10.3 Recovering Inter- est and Legal Costs ), and awards of moral damages. The only type of remedy that arbitral tribunals may not award is punitive damages, as such remedies are not provided for under Lebanese law. 10.3 Recovering Interest and Legal Costs Lebanon does not prohibit the application of interest (Article 767 of the COC). Furthermore, and consider - ing that Lebanese law does not set any limit on the calculation of interest in commercial matters, Leba - nese courts held that the award of interest by arbi - tral tribunals is not subject to review in the context of annulment proceedings (Court of Appeal of Beirut, 29 November 2011, Decision 1725/2001). The Lebanese Court of Cassation also confirmed that interest award - ed by arbitral tribunals may exceed the value of legal interest as determined by Lebanese law (Lebanese Court of Cassation, 27 April 2006, Decision 98/2006). With respect to legal costs, the general rule set forth in the NCPC is that the losing party shall bear the legal costs incurred by both parties (Article 541 (2) of the NCPC). In certain circumstances, the successful party may be ordered to pay all or part of the legal costs of the other party, in particular if that party’s procedural conduct has caused prejudice to the other party (Arti - cle 542 of the NCPC). In the context of international arbitration, arbitral tribu - nals tend to refer mainly to the applicable rules of the arbitral institution, most of which provide guidance on the apportionment of costs.
Article 790 of the NCPC lists the formal information that an arbitral award must contain, including the fol - lowing: • the name of the arbitrator(s) who issued the award; • the place and date of issuance of the award; • the names of the parties, their capacities, and the names of their representatives; • a summary of the facts, claims and evidence sub - mitted by the parties; and • the reasons for the award and its operative part. According to Article 791 of the NCPC, the arbitral award must be signed by the arbitrator(s) or by the majority of the arbitrators who made the award. While non-compliance with most of the above require - ments may constitute grounds for challenging an award in domestic arbitration (Article 800 (5) of the NCPC), this is not necessarily the case in internation - al arbitration. Nevertheless, it is advisable to comply with these minimum formal requirements to ensure that the award is not vulnerable to annulment on other grounds, such as international public policy. With regard to the time limits for the delivery of the award, Article 773 of the NCPC provides that if the arbitration agreement does not specify a time limit for the arbitral proceedings, the arbitrators shall complete their mandate within six months from the appointment of the last arbitrator, although this six-month period may be extended by the agreement of the parties or by a decision of the President of the Court of First Instance, upon the request of one of the parties or the arbitral tribunal. 10.2 Types of Remedies The Lebanese Arbitration Law does not limit the pow - ers of an arbitral tribunal in awarding remedies. More - over, it is widely accepted in Lebanese jurisprudence that arbitral tribunals, in resolving contractual dis - putes, have the power to issue any decision regarding the specific performance of the underlying contract or regarding the consequences of non-performance of the contract (Lebanese Court of Cassation, Deci -
11. Review of an Award 11.1 Grounds for Appeal
International arbitral awards rendered in Lebanon may be challenged by way of an application for annulment (Article 819 of the NCPC), but, unlike awards rendered in domestic arbitrations, they cannot be appealed (Lebanese Court of Cassation, Decision 163/2001).
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