MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Louis Cassar Pullicino, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Yasmine Ellul, Ganado Advocates
11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal The parties may agree to exclude the right of appeal in domestic arbitrations either in the arbitration agree - ment or in a separate document in writing. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review In principle, there is no right to appeal (de novo review) an international arbitral award unless the invoked grounds require a limited review thereof, such as a vio - lation of public policy. See 11.1 Grounds for Appeal . Malta is a signatory to the New York Convention, hav - ing signed and ratified it on 22 June 2000, and has incorporated its provisions into domestic law through the Arbitration Act. Malta has made two reservations to the Convention: the reciprocity reservation, limit - ing its application to awards made in the territory of another Contracting State, and a reservation concern - ing its temporal scope, stipulating that the Convention applies only to arbitration agreements concluded after Malta’s accession. The Act also incorporates the Geneva Protocol, the Geneva Convention and the ICSID Convention. 12.2 Enforcement Procedure Procedures and Standards for Enforcing Awards Foreign awards to which the treaties set out in the Second Schedule to the Arbitration Act apply are enforceable in the same manner as if they were awarded locally, once registered with the MAC. Part VIII of the Rules outlines the documents required for the registration of the foreign arbitral award with the MAC, these being: • the duly authenticated original award or a duly certified copy thereof; • a certified translation of the award into English when the award is not in the English language; • the original arbitration agreement or a certified copy thereof; • a sworn declaration by the applicant or their authorised attorney that no recourse has been 12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention
taken and is pending against the award and the award is final; and • the name, address and all other known commu - nication details of the respondent, and if they are not resident or otherwise present in Malta, of their representative or other connected person in Malta together with a description of the connection to them or their property in Malta. On receipt of an application with all the attachments, the registrar of the MAC shall serve the respond - ent with a copy of all the documents received. The respondent shall have ten working days to state in writing whether there are any reasons why the reg - istrar should not proceed with the registration of the award. Any objections to registration are limited to the grounds exhaustively listed in Article V of the New York Convention and must be substantiated with all necessary supporting documentation. The matter is then referred to the chairperson of the MAC for deter - mination. The chairperson may decide the matter on the basis of the written submissions and documenta - tion already exhibited but retains discretion to order a hearing if the issues raised warrant further argument or evidentiary clarification. Following the conclusion of these proceedings, the chairperson will proceed to deliver a reasoned decision on the issue. A decision of the chairperson of the MAC may be appealed by any party to the Court of Appeal. The appeal must be filed within 20 days from notifica - tion of the chairperson’s decision to the parties. The respondent to the appeal is entitled to file a reply within 20 days from service of the appeal applica - tion. This ordinarily concludes the written phase of the appellate proceedings. The Court of Appeal may, where it considers it appropriate, schedule a hearing for oral submissions. Proceedings before the Court of Appeal and records thereof are public. No further ordinary appeal lies from a final judgment of the Court of Appeal. On registration with the MAC, awards constitute exec - utive titles. The awards are then enforced with the intervention of the national courts through the issu - ance of executive warrants.
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