LEBANON Law and Practice Contributed by: Nayla Comair-Obeid, Ziad Obeid and Zeina Obeid, Obeid & Partners
• the arbitrators have exceeded the mandate con- ferred upon them; • the award is rendered without due respect of the parties’ rights of defence; • the award does not contain the mandatory require- ments related to: (i) the reliefs sought by the par- ties; (ii) the grounds and means substantiating the reliefs; (iii) the names of the arbitrators; (iv) the ratio decidendi of the award, (v) the date of the award, and (vi) the signature of the arbitrators; and • the award has violated a public policy rule. International Arbitration International awards can be challenged through the following means of recourse. • Appeal against the decision denying exequatur – the appeal has to be initiated before the Court of Appeal within 30 days from the notification of the decision refusing exequatur. The Court of Appeal’s decision rendered in this respect is subject to cas- sation before the Court of Cassation. • Annulment of international awards rendered in Lebanon pursuant to Article 819 of the LCCP, on the grounds set out in Article 817 of the LCCP, as follows: (a) the award is rendered without an arbitration agreement or on the basis of an agreement that is null or void due to the expiry of the relevant time limit for rendering the award; (b) the award is issued by arbitrators who were not appointed in accordance with the law; (c) the arbitrators fail have exceeded the mandate conferred upon them; (d) the award is rendered without due respect of the parties’ rights of defence; and (e) the award has violated an international public policy rule. Awards Rendered in Foreign Jurisdictions The means of recourse available against foreign awards are the following. • Appeal against the decision refusing to grant exequatur to a foreign award – pursuant to Article 816 of the LCCP, the request has to be submitted within 30 days from the notification of the decision refusing exequatur. The Court of Appeal’s decision
is subject to cassation before the Court of Cassa- tion. The Court of Cassation’s review will be limited to legal grounds only. • Appeal against the decision granting exequatur –this appeal is only available in specific circum- stances set out in Article 817 of the LCCP, as outlined above. No annulment proceedings are available against awards rendered overseas. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration The recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award in Lebanon is carried out through an ex parte exequa- tur proceeding. The competent courts to grant exequatur depends on the nature of dispute (ie, whether it is a civil or administrative dispute). In civil and commercial mat- ters, exequatur requests are filed before the President of the Court of First Instance, either at the place where the award was rendered, if an award was rendered in Lebanon, or in Beirut if the award was rendered outside Lebanon. In administrative matters, exequatur requests should be filed before the President of the State Council (Articles 793, 795 and 815 of the LCCP). For domestic, international, and foreign arbitral awards, the exequatur application must be accom- panied by the following documents: (i) the arbitral award and (ii) the arbitration agreement, or certified copies of these documents (Articles 793, 795, 814 and 815 of the LCCP). If the award or the arbitration agreement is drafted in a foreign language, a certified Arabic translation or one prepared by a sworn transla- tor is required. For international or foreign awards, the award should be translated into Arabic and the judge will verify (i) the existence of the award and (ii) that recognition of the award does not manifestly violate Lebanese interna - tional public policy (Articles 814 and 815 of the LCCP). Pursuant to Article 796 of the LCCP, exequatur is placed on both the original arbitral award deposited with the court and the original submitted by the party requesting enforcement. Further, any decision reject-
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