MACAU SAR, CHINA Law and Practice Contributed by: João Nuno Riquito, Bruno Almeida and Daniel de Senna Fernandes, Riquito Advogados
conducted in accordance with such procedures if the other party does not oppose it within 15 days from receiving the arbitration proposal. The recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards is governed by Law 19/2019 by the Macau SAR’s Code of Civil Procedure. There are, however, specific agreements for the recognition and enforce- ment of arbitration awards between the Macau SAR and the Hong Kong SAR as well as between the Macau SAR and the PRC. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration Matters not susceptible to settlement agreements may not be submitted to arbitration, such as: • disputes whose respective objects involve inalien- able rights (ie, rights in respect of which the parties may not surrender, negotiate or transfer (such as parental relations)); • matters that are by law submitted to the jurisdiction of the judicial courts, such as matters in relation to real estate rights over land located in the Macau SAR and the bankruptcy and insolvency of corpo- rations with registered offices in the Macau SAR; • the effective enforcement of any awards; • matters that have already been decided by a res judicata award (except in relation to aspects of its implementation which are not covered by the award); and • matters in relation to which the public prosecutor has to intervene in representation of individuals who lack legal capacity to act. 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award The arbitration award issued in arbitration proceed- ings may only be challenged by annulment on the fol- lowing grounds. • lack of legal capacity of any of the parties to enter into the arbitration agreement; • unenforceability of the arbitration clause accord- ing to the agreed jurisdiction (or according to the Macau SAR law, in case of omission); • impossibility of a party to exercise their respective rights during the arbitration proceedings due to
inadequate information of the appointment of the arbitrator or of the arbitration process, or due to any other reason; • the arbitration award falls outside or exceeds the scope of the arbitration agreement; • irregular constitution of the arbitration tribunal according to the arbitration clause (save when the provision is non-compliant with the Macau SAR law) or according to the Macau SAR law, in case of omission; • insusceptibility of submission to arbitration of the subject matter of the decision in accordance with Annulment proceedings should be submitted within three months from the date the award has been noti - fied to the relevant party or – if any rectification, inter- pretation, clarification or additional complementary decision has been requested – from the issuance date of the decision on the latter. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration The enforcement of domestic arbitration awards does not require any previous confirmation by the Macau SAR courts, and they are considered equivalent, for enforcement purposes, to judicial awards. The recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitra- tion awards take place through separate proceedings, which fall within the competence of the Court of Sec- the Macau SAR law; and • contrary to public order. The general requirements for confirmation of the award are fundamentally formal by nature, but there are a few exceptions, namely: • previous submission of the matter to litigation in the Macau SAR or previous decision as res judi- cata by the Macau SAR courts; • non-exclusive competence of the Macau SAR courts to rule over the subject matter; • verification of the regular summoning of the defendant and the observation of due process principles; and ond Instance. Confirmation
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