MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Louis Cassar Pullicino, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Yasmine Ellul, Ganado Advocates
is available to the parties in addition to the rights of recourse as contemplated in Article 34 of the UNCI - TRAL Model Law. When it comes to domestic arbitral awards, recourse against an arbitral award may be made to the Court of Appeal by application for: • setting aside in accordance with specific provisions of the Act; • appeal on a point of law in accordance with spe - cific provisions of the Act; and • appeal on points of law and fact in accordance with specific provisions of the Act in the case of mandatory arbitrations. In these cases, the application must be made within 15 days from the notification to the applicant of the award in accordance with the Act, and the applicant is to notify the arbitrators and the MAC with a copy of the application as soon as practicable but not later than 15 days after the application is filed. 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal The parties may agree to exclude the right of appeal in domestic arbitrations either in the arbitration agree - ment or in a separate document in writing. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review In principle, there is no right to appeal (de novo review) an international arbitral award unless the invoked grounds require a limited review thereof, such as a vio - lation of public policy. See 11.1 Grounds for Appeal .
applies only to arbitration agreements concluded after Malta’s accession. The Act also incorporates the Geneva Protocol, the Geneva Convention, and the ICSID Convention. 12.2 Enforcement Procedure Foreign awards to which the treaties set out in the Second Schedule to the Act apply are enforceable in the same manner as if they were awarded locally, once registered with the MAC. Part VIII of the Rules outlines the documents required for the registration of the foreign arbitral award with the MAC, these being: • the duly authenticated original award or a duly certified copy thereof; • a certified translation of the award into English when the award is not in the English language; • the original arbitration agreement or a certified copy thereof; • a sworn declaration by the applicant or their authorised attorney that no recourse has been taken and is pending against the award and the award is final; and • the name, address and all other known commu - nication details of the respondent, and if they are not resident or otherwise present in Malta, of their representative or other connected person in Malta together with a description of the connection to them or their property in Malta. On receipt of an application with all the attachments, the registrar of the MAC shall serve the respond - ent with a copy of all the documents received. The respondent shall have ten working days to state in writing whether there are any reasons why the reg - istrar should not proceed with the registration of the award. On registration with the MAC, awards constitute exec - utive titles. The awards are then enforced with the intervention of the national courts through the issu - ance of a number of executive warrants. Awards Set Aside Maltese courts have not yet dealt with the issue of recognition of arbitral awards set aside at the seat of arbitration. In such a circumstance, it would be diffi -
12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention
Malta is a signatory to the New York Convention, having signed and ratified it on 22 June 2000, and has incorporated its provisions into domestic law through the Act. Malta has made two reservations to the Convention: the reciprocity reservation, limit - ing its application to awards made in the territory of another Contracting State, and a reservation concern - ing its temporal scope, stipulating that the Convention
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