KAZAKHSTAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Sergei Vataev, Ilya Kirichenko and Yelena Dvoretskaya-Yussupova, Legit Advocates’ Bureau
12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention
entitled to review the arbitral tribunal’s factual or legal findings. The same approach applies to proceedings before the AIFC Court regarding awards within its jurisdic - tion under the AIFC legal framework. Recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award may be refused only on the limited grounds prescribed by the applicable legislation and international treaties. In relation to foreign arbitral awards, Kazakhstan courts apply the grounds for refusal contained in the New York Convention. These include, among other things, the invalidity of the arbitration agreement, lack of proper notice or inability of a party to present its case, excess of jurisdiction, irregularities in the com - position of the tribunal or the arbitral procedure, the award not being binding or having been set aside at the seat of arbitration, non-arbitrability of the dispute, and conflict with the public policy of Kazakhstan. The same general approach is reflected in the Law on Arbitration for domestic awards and in the AIFC Arbitration Regulations. 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration Kazakhstan law does not contain specific provisions governing class actions or group arbitration. Whether multiple parties may participate in the same arbitration depends primarily on the parties’ agree - ment, the applicable arbitration rules and the exist - ence of compatible arbitration agreements. Neither the Law on Arbitration nor the AIFC Arbitration Regu - lations establish a comprehensive procedural frame - work for class or representative arbitration compara - ble to that found in some other jurisdictions. Accordingly, class arbitration is not a recognised fea - ture of arbitration practice in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan acceded to the 1958 New York Conven - tion on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in 1995. The Convention forms part of Kazakhstan law and is directly applied by the courts when considering appli - cations for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Kazakhstan has made the reciprocity reservation and applies the Convention only to awards made in the territory of another contracting state. It has also declared that the Convention applies only to disputes arising from legal relationships considered Applications for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards are submitted to the competent Kazakhstan court in accordance with the Civil Proce - dure Code, the Law on Arbitration and the New York Convention, where applicable. The applicant must generally produce the arbitral award and the arbitration agreement, together with certified translations where the relevant documents are not in Kazakh or Russian. The court considers the application within the statutory framework and may refuse recognition or enforcement only on the limited grounds prescribed by the applicable legislation and international treaties. commercial under Kazakhstan law. 12.2 Enforcement Procedure A similar procedure applies to awards rendered under the AIFC Arbitration Regulations, subject to the AIFC Court’s jurisdiction, where applicable. 12.3 Approach of the Courts Kazakhstan courts generally consider applications for the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards within the framework established by the New York Convention, the Law on Arbitration and the Civil Pro - cedure Code. Judicial review is limited to the statutory grounds for refusing recognition or enforcement. The courts do not reconsider the merits of the dispute and are not
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