SRI LANKA Law and Practice Contributed by: Amrit Rajapakse, Law Chambers of Amrit Rajapakse
12.2 Enforcement Procedure An application for enforcement of an award (includ - ing a foreign award) should be made to the high court within one year after the expiry of 14 days of the mak - ing of the award. Such application shall be accom - panied by: • the original award or a duly certified copy thereof; and • the original arbitration agreement or a duly certified copy thereof. Where the award or the arbitration agreement is not in one of the official languages of the court or English, a duly certified translation of such document into such official language or English shall also be filed. Under Section 31 (6), where an application has been made to enforce an award and there is no application under Section 32 to set aside the award or the court sees no cause to refuse recognition and enforcement of the award under Sections 33 and 34, the court shall proceed to file the award and give judgment according to the award on a day of which notice shall be given to the parties. The grounds on which an award may be set aside under Section 32 or a foreign award may be refused recognition or enforcement under Sections 33 and 34 correspond to the grounds contained in Articles 34 and 36 of the Model Law and Article V of the New York Convention. An award made in Sri Lanka may be set aside on the following grounds: • A party to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity. • The arbitration agreement was invalid. • The respondent was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise unable to present their case. • The award deals with a dispute outside the terms of the submission to arbitration, or contains deci - sions on matters beyond the scope of the submis - sion to arbitration. • The composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the parties’ agreement or the law.
• interpretation of a specific point or part of the award (Section 27 (1)(b)); • additional award as to claims presented in the arbitral proceedings but omitted from the award (Section 27 (4)); • setting aside the award (Section 32); or • refusing recognition or enforcement of a foreign arbitral award (Section 34). 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal The right to seek an interpretation of the award or an additional award is made subject to the agreement of the parties. In the absence of such agreement, these remedies will not be available. The remaining remedies are statutory and cannot be excluded by agreement. The Act is silent as to whether parties can agree on additional appeal procedures before a second arbi - tral tribunal or before an arbitral institution. Such an agreement may run foul of Section 26 of the Act, which provides that, subject to the provisions of Part VII of the Act (which deals with setting aside or refus - ing recognition or enforcement of awards), the award made by the arbitral tribunal shall be “final and binding on the parties to the arbitration agreement.” The parties would not be able to expand the court’s power to set aside an award under Section 32 or refuse recognition or enforcement of a foreign award under Section 34. However, parties may enter into a written agreement to exclude any right of appeal from the high court to the Supreme Court. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review Under the scheme of the Act, the court is precluded from reviewing an award on the merits.
12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention
Sri Lanka signed the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbi - tral Awards on 30 December 1958 and deposited its instrument of ratification on 9 April 1962. Sri Lanka has not formulated any reservations at the time of rati- fying the Convention.
806 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook