LEBANON Law and Practice Contributed by: Mohamed Alem, Mazen Ghosn and Rana Kahwagi, Alem & Associates
On the other hand, enforcement orders for interna - tional arbitral awards rendered outside Lebanon may be appealed (Article 817 of the NCPC). The challenge of an international arbitral award ren - dered in Lebanon and the appeal against an enforce - ment order of an international arbitral award rendered outside Lebanon may be based on the same five grounds, namely: • if the award was made in the absence of an arbitra - tion agreement or on the basis of an agreement that is null or void due to the expiration of the time allotted for making the award; • if the award was made by arbitrators who were not appointed in accordance with the law; • if the arbitrators have failed to comply with the mandate given to them; • if there has been a violation of due process; or • if the award is contrary to Lebanese international public policy. The application for annulment should be filed with the court of appeal of the place where the arbitral award was rendered (Article 819 (3) of the NCPC). The application for annulment may be filed as soon as the award is made, but in any event no later than 30 days after the notification of the order recognising the award or granting it exequatur (Article 819 (4) of the NCPC). Annulment proceedings generally lead to the suspension of the enforcement, unless the contested award contains summary judgments (Article 820 of the NCPC). 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal International arbitral awards are not subject to appeal in Lebanon; they may only be challenged by way of an application to set aside on the limited grounds set out in 11.1 Grounds for Appeal . The parties may not modify or exclude any of these grounds, nor may they add new grounds. For this reason, the Lebanese Court of Cassation has held that parties may not seek the annulment of an arbitral award on the ground of violation of pub - lic policy based on alleged misinterpretation of the applicable law (Lebanese Court of Cassation, 31
October 2002, Decision 136/2002). The Lebanese Court of Cassation also refused to annul an arbitral award where one of the parties claimed that evidence and arguments presented in the challenged award had been misinterpreted or that the principle of equality had been violated, without such violation amounting to a violation of due process (Lebanese Court of Cas - sation, Decision 141/2001). 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review It is well established in Lebanese case law that an action to set aside an arbitral award should not be confused with an appeal to review the legality of the challenged award (Lebanese Court of Cassation, 18 December 2007, Decision 159/2007). Therefore, it is settled case law that Lebanese courts must refrain from reviewing the merits of international arbitral awards (Court of Appeal of Beirut, 21 Decem - ber 2011, Decision 1786/2011). Similarly, it is widely accepted that the review of an action to set aside an arbitral award may not entail any review of the grounds on which the challenged award was made or of its compliance with the applicable law (Court of Appeal of Beirut, 18 June 2014, Decision 890/2014; Court of Appeal of Beirut, 26 March 2009, Decision 454/2009). Nevertheless, on a few occasions, some Lebanese courts have failed to respect the above principle. For example, the Court of Appeal of Beirut examined an arbitrator’s application of the law agreed upon by the parties, on the basis of the court’s authority to review the arbitrator’s compliance with the terms of his man - date (Court of Appeal of Beirut, 3 March 2011, Deci - sion 308/2011). However, such decisions remain the exception.
12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention
Lebanon ratified the New York Convention on 11 August 1998, declaring that it would apply the New York Convention to the recognition and enforcement of awards made only in the territory of another con - tracting state, on the basis of reciprocity.
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