PAKISTAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Abdul Muqtadir Khan, Syed Absar Rahat Rizvi, Hammad Saleem and Zair Zaman Khan, Khan & Arshad
4.6 Challenging Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Domestic Awards For a domestic award, a party can object before it is made a rule of court on grounds such as arbitrator misconduct, the award exceeding the reference, or a dispute over the existence or validity of the arbi - tration agreement. Once the award is converted into a decree, the resulting decree may be challenged through the ordinary appellate remedies available under Pakistani law. Foreign Award For a foreign award, resistance is limited to the Article V/Section 7 grounds: • an invalid or non-existent arbitration agreement; • improper notice or inability to present the case; • an award beyond the scope of the submission; • an improperly constituted tribunal; • an award not yet binding or already set aside or suspended at the seat; A party may also raise applicable limitation objec - tions where enforcement proceedings are initiated beyond the prescribed period under Pakistani law. A High Court’s decision granting or refusing enforce - ment may be challenged through the available appel - late or supervisory remedies, including an intra-court appeal where maintainable and, where appropriate, an appeal before the Supreme Court in accordance with the applicable law. • non-arbitrable subject matter; and • conflict with Pakistani public policy.
decree, which is executed like any other decree under Order XXI. Foreign Awards For a foreign arbitral award, the party seeking enforce - ment files an enforcement petition before the com - petent High Court of the province where the debtor or its assets are located under the Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreements and Foreign Arbitral Awards) Act, 2011, along with the authenti - cated award and arbitration agreement attached. The High Court examines whether the requirements for recognition and enforcement are satisfied, and considers only the limited refusal grounds set out in Article V of the New York Convention. The court does not review the merits of the dispute. Once enforce - ment is granted, the award is treated as enforceable in Pakistan and execution may proceed in accordance with Pakistani law. ICSID Awards For ICSID awards, the award is recognised and regis - tered before the competent High Court in accordance with the Arbitration (International Investment Disputes) Act, 2011. Upon registration, it is enforceable in the same manner as a final judgment of that court, subject to the applicable legal limitations concerning execu - tion. 4.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Arbitral Awards Domestic award enforcement under the 1940 Act tends to be slower, since it is common for objections and appeals to be raised before the award is made a rule of court, often stretching to several years. Foreign award enforcement is generally quicker in principle, given the narrow refusal grounds and the Supreme Court’s confirmation that the High Court has exclu - sive jurisdiction (avoiding parallel domestic-court liti - gation), though court backlogs still commonly push these cases to one to three years on average. Court fees for the enforcement petition itself are modest; overall cost depends mainly on how hard the respond - ent contests it.
347 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook