COLOMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Juan Mendoza, Manuela Hernández Contreras, Andres Parra and Daniel Munera, DRET
10. The Award 10.1 Legal Requirements Law 1563 imposes a defined set of formal require - ments on an international award: • In writing and signed : For a multi-member tribu - nal, the signature of a majority, or of the presiding arbitrator, is enough – provided the reason for any missing signature is recorded. A missing signature does not invalidate the award on its own. • Reasoned by default : Parties may only dispense with this requirement if none of them are domiciled or resident in Colombia. • Dated and seated : The seat determines whether the award counts as domestic or foreign for recog - nition purposes. Once issued, the tribunal notifies the parties by deliv - ering signed copies. Timing: No Statutory Deadline, but Strict Post- Award Windows On timing, Law 1563 sets no maximum deadline for issuing an award in international arbitration – unlike the domestic regime, which does impose one. Parties are free to set their own deadline, either directly or by adopting an institutional rule that does. Within the month following notification of the award, parties may request a correction, a clarification, or an additional award covering a claim the tribunal overlooked. The tribunal then has one month to resolve a correction or clarification request, and 60 days to issue an addi - tional award. 10.2 Types of Remedies Law 1563 does not set out a catalogue of available remedies, nor does it restrict the types of relief a tri - bunal may order. As a general principle, the tribunal applies whatever substantive law the parties chose, so the scope of available remedies ultimately tracks that governing law, not Colombian arbitration law itself. The one meaningful limit of Colombian origin could, in principle, arise later, at the recognition stage – through the public policy ground under Article 112 of Law 1563. That ground, however, is a narrow one: Colom - bian courts have consistently held that it refers only
to international public policy, not the broader body of domestic mandatory rules, and have declined to block recognition merely because an award conflicts with an internal Colombian rule. Whether a remedy like punitive damages – a figure Colombian law does not itself recognise – would actually be blocked on that basis remains, in our view, an open question rather than a settled one. Injunctive relief is available both as an interim meas - ure and as part of the final award – the law expressly allows a tribunal to order the maintenance or restora - tion of the status quo, or to prevent imminent harm or interference with the proceedings. 10.3 Recovering Interest and Legal Costs Law 1563 does not directly regulate an award of inter - est on the merits – that question follows whatever sub - stantive law governs the dispute – but it does allow a tribunal to order a party that requested an interim measure to pay costs and damages if that measure later proves unjustified. As for the costs of the arbitration itself, parties can agree on how to allocate them directly, or by adopting an institutional rule that does. In the absence of such an agreement, allocation in international arbitration is decided case by case by the tribunal itself, typically at the end of the proceedings – the tribunal can recog - nise the full range of costs the losing party incurred, without defaulting to Colombia’s ordinary civil proce - dure rules. Those domestic rules do, however, apply once a case reaches a Colombian court: in annulment proceedings specifically, Colombian practice follows a “costs follow the event” approach, and the party that loses the annulment action is ordered to pay costs.
11. Review of an Award 11.1 Grounds for Appeal
Colombia does not allow an appeal against an interna - tional arbitral award. Annulment is one of the very few remedies available, and by far the most used. Annul - ment is the only mechanism available to challenge an international award before the Supreme Court. The grounds are exhaustive and fall into two categories under Articles 107 and 108 of Law 1563, following
267 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook