SUDAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Omer Ali Abdelrahman, Omer Ali Law Firm
• The time during which an annulment application may be made has expired (ie, two weeks from the date when the applicant becomes aware of the award, or from the date when the award is declared if the applicant has been properly given notice). • The other party has been properly notified. • The award, or any part of the award, does not con - tain a matter contravening public order in Sudan. The court shall enforce the part of the award in compliance with public order and abstain from enforcement of the part in contravention of public order. If an award has been set aside by the courts in the seat of arbitration, it cannot be enforced in the courts of Sudan, as one of the conditions for enforcement of foreign arbitration awards under Section 48 of the Arbitration Act is that the award must become final in accordance with the laws of the seat of arbitration. No application for enforcement would be accepted by the court pending a resolution of the proceedings at the seat of arbitration. Enforcement Against the Government The Civil Procedures Act 1983 provides that no court proceedings against any governmental agency may commence except after giving two months’ notice to the Minister of Justice, unless the Minister of Justice gives permission to start proceedings before the expi - ry of the two-month period. In Sudanese Telecommu - nications Company v The Postal and Telegram Public Corporation, SC/CA/382/2002, the Supreme Court held that no arbitration award against a government agency may be filed with a court for enforcement except after complying with the above requirement of giving notice to the Minister of Justice. Sovereign Immunity Sovereign immunity is regulated under the Privileges and Immunities Act 1956, which provides for privileges and immunities of diplomatic missions and members thereof, including immunity against civil and criminal cases. Sudan is a signatory to the Vienna Conven - tion on Diplomatic Relations, and generally speaking the Sudanese courts would recognise the doctrine of sovereign and diplomatic immunity as a principle of public international law. However, as international
arbitration normally concerns commercial matters, which are not included within the scope of immuni - ties in international law, there would be no room for a state or state entity to successfully raise a defence of sovereign immunity at the enforcement stage, unless the award is against a diplomatic mission based in Generally speaking, the approach of the Sudanese courts towards the recognition and enforcement of arbitration awards is positive. A main ground for refusing enforcement is the public policy ground. As already discussed in 12.2 Enforcement Procedure , under Section 47 of the Arbitration Act, one of the conditions for enforcement of an international arbitra - tion award in Sudan is that the award does not contain any matter which is contrary to public order in Sudan. The standard applied as regards refusing enforcement of an award is domestic public policy. Sudan and not the state itself. 12.3 Approach of the Courts In Sudan Cotton Company v Metcot International Trade Company Limited 674/2014, the court decided to set aside the arbitration award for several reasons, including that the subject matter of the arbitration was, at the time of the proceedings, under criminal inves - tigation; as such, the arbitration proceedings were in violation of public order, as the criminal law system is designed for the purpose of protecting the interests of society at large, whereas civil proceedings are for the protection of the private interests of individuals. Section 49 of the Arbitration Act provides that an order by the competent court for enforcement of an arbitra - tion award is not appealable. However, the Supreme Court did allow an appeal because the competent court interfered in the arbitral award by deducting tax from the amount awarded ( Sas Building and Con- struction Limited v Zhang Construction Limited , SC/ CA/2032/2016). 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration The Arbitration Act does not provide for class-action arbitration or group arbitration.
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