NORWAY Law and Practice Contributed by: Christian Reusch, Jenny Sandvig, Oda Lauksund Engamo and Therese Sætre Løfsgaard, Advokatfirmaet Simonsen Vogt Wiig
13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration An arbitral award can be enforced in Norway, irre- spective of the country in which it was made. The enforcement process can be initiated by submitting a request for enforcement to the Norwegian enforce- ment authorities. Recognition and enforcement of an award is dependent on a party providing the original award or a certified copy thereof. If the award is not made in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English, the party must also provide a certified translation thereof. Documentation may be required to show the exist- ence of an agreement or other basis for arbitration. 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform As far as is known, there are no proposals for dispute resolution reform. 14.2 Growth Areas The largest areas of commercial disputes are gener- ally construction law, property law, compensation and insurance law, and monetary claims. Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in com- mercial disputes reaching the Supreme Court, com- pared to previous years. In 2023, the majority of civil cases that were granted leave to appeal concerned issues related to compensation, construction law, and real estate. There is also a consistent number of cases involving administrative law and civil procedure. New legislation in key legal areas often triggers a temporary spike in the number of cases referred to the courts, which typically subsides after a period of adjustment. In key sectors such as shipping, oil and gas, fisheries, aquaculture, industry, land-based power, and finance, the Supreme Court has very few or no cases. A main explanation for this is believed to be competition from arbitration.
Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. The enforcement of arbitral awards is regulated in the Arbitration Act and the Enforcement Act. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration Disputes in legal matters over which the parties do not have an unrestricted right of disposition cannot be determined by arbitration. The point of departure for assessing whether a claim is subject to unrestricted disposal by the parties is whether the parties can enter into an agreement regarding the claim outside of court proceedings. Divorce is an example of a legal matter over which the parties have restricted disposal – the parties cannot agree extrajudicially to be divorced, which must be determined by a court. Consequently, divorce cannot be referred to and decided through arbitration. Furthermore, an arbitration agreement will not be binding on a consumer if it was entered into before the dispute arose. 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award Arbitral awards are binding on the parties and can only be set aside under exceptional circumstances. An arbitral award can be set aside if: • the dispute is not capable of settlement by arbitra- tion under Norwegian law; • the award is contrary to public policy (ordre public); • one of the parties to the arbitration agreement lacked legal capacity; • the arbitration agreement is invalid under the law to which the parties have agreed to subject it; • the party bringing the action to set aside was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings, or was not given an opportunity to present their views on the case; • the award falls outside the jurisdiction of the arbi- tral tribunal; • the composition of the arbitral tribunal was incor- rect; or • the arbitral procedure was contrary to law or the agreement of the parties, and it is likely that this has had an impact on the decision.
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