SAUDI ARABIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Zeyad Khoshaim, Abdullah Alajlan, Kamil Mehiz and Sarah Sedky, K&A
12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention
Additionally, the competent court in the Kingdom hearing a case for annulment shall annul the award on its own initiative if it concludes either that: • the award violates provisions of Shari’ah law and public policy in the Kingdom; • the award violates the arbitration agreement; or • the subject matter of the dispute cannot be referred to arbitration as clarified in Article 2 of the Saudi Arbitration Law. 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal The parties cannot alter the scope of challenge to an arbitral award, as Article 50 of the Saudi Arbitration Law provides an exhaustive list of grounds for annul - ment. However, they may waive their right to seek annulment after (but not before) the award has been issued (see Article 51 (1) of the Saudi Arbitration Law and Article 18 (1) of its Implementing Regulations). Article 7 of the Saudi Arbitration Law states that if a party continues with the arbitration after becoming aware of a violation of the arbitration agreement or the Arbitration Law (in matters that can be agreed other - wise by the parties), and does not raise an objection before the tribunal within 30 days of discovering the violation (or within the agreed-upon period), that party is then deemed to have waived the right to make this objection later. Therefore, to use such violations as grounds for annulment before the Saudi courts, the party must have addressed them promptly during the arbitration process. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review Under Saudi law, a Saudi court’s review of an award focuses solely on the legality of the arbitral award, not on its merits. An annulment action is not an appeal. Consequently, Saudi courts cannot re-evaluate the case de novo. This is clear from the text of Article 50 (4) of the Saudi Arbitration Law, which expressly states that the competent court shall consider the action for nullification based on the grounds outlined in Article 50, “without inspecting the facts or subject matter of the dispute”.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a signatory to the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. However, it has reserved the right to limit the Convention’s appli - cation to the recognition and enforcement of awards made in the territory of other contracting states, based on reciprocity. Additionally, Royal Decree No M/11 specifies that the Convention does not apply retro - actively to disputes initiated before Saudi Arabia’s ratification. The Saudi government is also a party to several bilat - eral investment treaties and international conventions, including, inter alia: • the 1952 Arab League Convention on the Enforce - ment of Judgments and Arbitral Awards; • the 1985 Riyadh Convention on Judicial Coopera - tion between Arab League States; and • the 1997 GCC Convention for the Execution of Judgments, Delegations and Judicial Notifications. 12.2 Enforcement Procedure The Saudi Arbitration Law and the Enforcement Law outline the procedure for enforcing an arbitral award in the Kingdom. The following is a short summary of the process. Enforcing a Domestic Arbitral Award To enforce a domestic arbitral award, the party must first obtain an order declaring the award enforceable from the competent appeal court with original juris - diction over the dispute. This involves applying to the court for this enforceability order. To request a declaration order, as mandated by Arti - cle 53 of the Saudi Arbitration Law, the party must provide: • the original award or a certified copy; • an authentic copy of the arbitration agreement; • an Arabic translation of the award, certified by an accredited entity, if the award is not in Arabic; and
796 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook