TURKS & CAICOS Law and Practice Contributed by: Stephen M Wilson KC, Wilson Wells
11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal Given that there is no means of appeal, the Arbitration Act does not provide for the option for the parties to agree to exclude or expand the scope of any appeal. The national courts may, however, respect any con - tractual agreement to expand or reduce the scope of any challenge to the award. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review As previously stated in 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal , the scope for judicial intervention in an award is extremely limited and so there is no real standard of judicial review of the merits of a case. The TCI is not a contracting party to and has not rati - fied the New York Convention. It is, however, a party to the Geneva Protocol on Arbitration Clauses. 12.2 Enforcement Procedure Until such time as there is any legislation dealing with the enforcement of arbitral awards (as to which, please see 12.3 Approach of the Courts ), the only way to enforce one in the TCI is to issue proceedings suing for the debt represented by the award. If the award has not been set aside or is not subject to any challenge, then the party seeking to enforce it can apply for summary judgment. 12.3 Approach of the Courts Section 10 of the Arbitration Act provides that “any award on a submission may, by leave of the court, be enforced in the same manner as a judgment or order to the same effect”. 12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention In respect of foreign arbitration awards, Order 73, Rule 6 provides: “Where an award is made in pro - ceedings on an arbitration in any country to which the Overseas Judgment (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act extends, being a country to which the said Act has been applied, then, if the award has, in pursuance of the law in force in the place where it is made, become enforceable in the same manner as a judgment given by a court in that place, the Overseas Judgments
(Reciprocal Enforcement) Rules shall apply in relation to the award as they apply in relation to a judgment given by a court in that place, subject, however, to the following modifications: • for reference to the country of the original court there shall be substituted references to the place where the award was made; and • the affidavit required by rule 5 of the said Rules must state (in addition to the other matters required by that rule) that to the best of the information or belief of the deponent the award has, in pursuance of the law in force in the place where it was made, become enforceable in the same manner as a judgment given by a court in that place.” Unfortunately, the provisions of the Overseas Judg - ment (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act have not yet been extended to any country, with the result that any for - eign award will have to be enforced at common law, which requires bringing proceedings on it. That is hopefully about to change, with consultation currently taking place as to which countries reciprocal enforce - ment will be extended to. 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration Given the limited and archaic nature of the TCI’s local arbitration legislation, it does not provide for class- action arbitration or group arbitration. 13.2 Ethical Codes With regard to ethical codes and other professional standards applicable to counsel, the conduct of an attorney called to the Bar of the TCI is governed by the Legal Profession Code of Professional Conduct (the “Code of Conduct”). It applies to any court or tribunal and to any other person or body of persons before whom an attorney appears as an advocate. It only extends to attorneys admitted to practise in accordance with the Legal Profession Act and thus would not govern the conduct of counsel from outside the jurisdiction in arbitral proceedings sited in the TCI. There are no specific provisions dealing with arbitra - tors conducting proceedings in the TCI.
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