SUDAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Omer Ali Abdelrahman, Omer Ali Law Firm
and the award – are usually kept confidential. A case where parts of such proceedings may become public is where a challenge arises before the courts regard - ing any aspect of the arbitration, and the ruling of the court is published.
of the contract, the subject of the dispute and the customs prevailing in the relevant industry. A reason for which an arbitral award may be set aside under Section 42 is if the award disregards the applicable law under the arbitration agreement or if it includes points not within the arbitration agreement. The authors have already seen that Section 25 of the Arbitration Act requires that the parties’ submissions should include their respective claims. Accordingly, it may be said that the remedies awarded should fall within one or more of the following: • the parties’ claims; • the contract, the subject of the arbitration and the arbitration agreement; • the law applicable to the arbitration; and • the customs prevailing in the relevant industry. 10.3 Recovering Interest and Legal Costs Recovering Interest In Sudan, interest would be considered illegal and unenforceable, as Section 110 of the Civil Procedures Act 1983 provides that a court in Sudan shall under no circumstance whatsoever make a decree ordering payment of interest on the principal sum adjudged, and also as the dominant view in Islamic legal litera - ture is that any interest would be considered as usury ( riba ), disallowed under Shari’a rules – it is the authors’ opinion that a Sudanese court would follow such view as Sudanese courts are directed to follow Shari’a. Further, there is at least one Sudanese precedent where the Supreme Court rejected a claim for pay - ment of interest due to late payment under a con - tract, holding that pursuant to Section 110 of the Civil Procedures Act 1983 payment of interest shall not be made under any circumstance whatsoever, and that this rule is a matter of public order. Invalidity would be limited to the interest only, and would not extend to the principal debt. Recent legislation introduced in May 2021 excluded “financial and banking business adopting the conven - tional system” from this ban. Accordingly, if an award contains payment of interest, Sudanese courts would not enforce the part of the award on interest, except if the underlying transaction that is the subject of
10. The Award 10.1 Legal Requirements Legal Requirements for an Award
Section 34 of the Arbitration Act provides the require - ments for an arbitral award. The arbitral award must be: • in writing; • reasoned; • dated and signed by the arbitrators or the majority of the arbitral tribunal; and • one where the dissenting opinion, if any, is record - ed in a separate document. Time Limits Under Section 33 of the Arbitration Act, the award should be delivered during the timeframe agreed by the parties, and within six months if no such agree - ment exists. However, if no award is delivered within the timeframe stated above, the parties may agree on a time extension, and in the case of disagreement between the parties the extension can be determined by the arbitral tribunal, whose decision shall be final. Section 35 (d) of the Arbitration Act provides that arbitration proceedings terminate, inter alia, upon the expiry of the time fixed for the arbitration. In Sudan Cotton Company v Metcot International Trade Company Limited 674/2014, the Supreme Court decided to set aside the arbitration award for several reasons, including that the award was delivered after the expiry of the time fixed by law (six months) in the absence of the parties’ agreement on a timeframe for the proceedings. 10.2 Types of Remedies Generally speaking, there are no legal provisions limit - ing the types of remedies that an arbitral tribunal may award. Under Section 31 of the Arbitration Act, the arbitral tribunal shall take into consideration the terms
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