EGYPT Law and Practice Contributed by: Inji Fathalla, Salma Nasreldine, Haya El Samra and Ismaël Sedky, Shahid Law Firm
9. Enforcement of Awards 9.1 Enforcement Procedure
the Cairo Court of Appeals. This requires the submis- sion of a request addressed to the Chief Justice of the Cairo Court of Appeals, which must be accompanied by a copy of the minutes of deposit, a certified copy of the award submitted with the deposit of the award and a copy of the agreement containing the arbitration clause along with an Arabic translation thereof. The competent judge will issue the exequatur order once he or she confirms that: • the request for the exequatur order was filed after a 90-day waiting period, during which the unsuc- cessful party may file an action to set aside the award; • the award does not conflict with a prior judgment issued by the Egyptian courts covering the same subject matter; • the award does not conflict with Egyptian public policy or any of its mandatory rules; and • the unsuccessful party was properly served and represented. If the competent judge does not grant the exequatur order, an appeal challenging this decision may be filed before the Cairo Court of Appeals within 30 days. Where there is no application to set aside the award and the competent judge is satisfied that the award meets the requirements described above, an exequa- tur order can be issued within 120 to 150 days of issu- ance of the award. Once exequatur is granted and notified, enforcement against the debtor’s assets in Egypt may begin. Notably, both award creditors and debtors may chal- lenge court orders granting or refusing exequatur before the President of the Cairo Court of Appeal – creditors within 30 days of refusal and debtors within ten days of granting – with adversarial proceedings that typically follow the ordinary appeals timeline (cir- ca one year). Separately, while the EAL does not contain any provi- sion allowing or barring the enforcement of foreign awards annulled at the seat and absent court prec- edents on the matter, reference may be made to the
The first step in enforcing a final award in Egypt is to notify the unsuccessful party by court bailiff by provid- ing a copy of the award duly legalised and notarised. A full translation of the award is not required; how- ever, an official Arabic translation of the award will be required later at the deposit stage below. The second step is for the award to be deposited at the registry of the Cairo Court of Appeals. This deposit requires the presentation of the original award or a signed copy thereof, an official notarised Arabic trans- lation of the award, the original agreement containing the arbitration clause along with an official notarised Arabic translation thereof, and proof that the unsuc- cessful party has been officially notified of the award by a court bailiff. Once the above items have been submitted, the entire file is transferred to the Arbitration Office at the Min- istry of Justice, which must approve the deposit of the award. To this end, it will first verify that the Cairo Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over the depositing of the award. Second, it will ensure that the award does not: a) conflict with Egyptian public policy or morals; b) involve an in-kind right to real estate (ie, posses- sion, division and confirmation of ownership, etc); c) involve any matter as to personal status under law (ie, matters usually within the domain of fam - ily law); d) involve any criminal matter; e) relate to a settlement in any of the matters listed in (b) through (d); or f) relate to any matter in which settlement is not per- mitted by law. If the Office approves the deposit of the award, the registrar of the Cairo Court of Appeals will issue min- utes of deposit. The unsuccessful party must then be notified with a copy of the minutes of deposit by a court bailiff. The third step is exequatur of the award. An exequatur order must be obtained from the competent judge at
59 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook