MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Chiara Frendo, Ganado Advocates
flexible in nature. In default of agreement between the parties, the rules set out in the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure will apply with respect to the pro- duction of documents and/or witnesses. Domestic arbitration awards are deemed to constitute an executive title under Maltese law. As for the recognition and enforcement of foreign awards, Malta has signed and ratified the 1958 New York Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. In matters relating to interna- tional arbitration, the Arbitration Act is based on the 1985 UNCITRAL Model Law. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration Certain subject matters are not arbitrable, including criminal cases, cases relating to acts of civil status, and public law matters. 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award An application may be made to the Courts of Justice in Malta to set aside an award where Malta was the seat of the arbitration largely on the same grounds as those for the refusal of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards listed in the New York Conven- tion and the setting aside grounds in the UNCITRAL Model Law. The Court of Appeal will only set aside an award if the appellant proves to its satisfaction, for example, that: • a proper notice was not given; • the arbitral award falls outside the parameters of the arbitration agreement; • the arbitration was not conducted in accordance with the agreement of the parties; or • the award conflicts with the public policy of Malta. An application to the Court of Appeal to set aside an arbitral award must be filed within 15 days of the noti- fication to the applicant of the award, and the appli- cant must provide a copy of the application to the arbitrators and the MAC no later than 15 days after the filing of the application.
Appeals against arbitral awards can also be filed with the Court of Appeal. However, this right of appeal may only be exercised in domestic arbitrations or if the parties have agreed in writing to do so. Furthermore, under mandatory arbitration, parties have the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal both on issues of fact and on issues of law. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration Domestic awards in procedures that have been initi- ated by means of a notice of arbitration and delivered by arbitrators under the auspices of the MAC are rec- ognised as executive titles and can be enforced in Malta in exactly the same manner as court judgments. Foreign arbitration awards must also be registered with the MAC, whereby they will be enforced by the courts of Malta in the same manner as domestic arbi- tral awards. This applies to foreign arbitral awards to which the treaties set out in the Second Schedule to the Malta Arbitration Act (ie, the Geneva Convention, the Geneva Protocol, and the New York Convention) are applicable. A registration application will be served upon the judgment debtor who will have the oppor- tunity, within a specified time period, to object to the registration on any of the grounds specified in those conventions. The entity designated as the competent entity for rec- ognition and enforcement under the New York Con- vention is the chairperson of the Malta Arbitration Centre. Decisions regarding recognition and enforce- ment delivered by the chairperson of the MAC may be appealed to the Court of Appeal. 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform In the second quarter of 2025, Bill 133 of 2025 was put forward proposing the re-establishment of the Commercial Court, which will be competent to hear and determine causes related to commercial matters arising, inter alia, from the Companies Act, Competi- tion Act, Banking Act, Merchant Shipping Act, and the Trademarks Act. The Commercial Court will also take cognisance of specific causes, whether of civil
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