SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Alfonso López-Ibor, Pablo Henríquez de Luna, Virginia Jover and Carmen Serrano, López-Ibor Abogados
4.2 Variations in Approach to Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Spanish legislation does not distinguish between dif - ferent categories of arbitral awards, so the provisions relating to the enforcement of these resolutions are applicable regardless of their nature. 4.3 Categories of Arbitral Awards Not Enforced The only arbitral awards that may not be enforced are those that by the nature of their adopted decision are not subject to enforcement. Therefore, arbitral awards that dismiss the case or merely grant a declaration devoid of material orders may not be enforced. The enforcement of awards may be suspended if the corresponding action to set them aside has been brought forth, and if the interested party provides security for the value of the sentence as well as dam - ages stemming from the delay resulting from the sus - pension. 4.4 Process of Enforcing Arbitral Awards In the first place, a claim to enforce the arbitral award must be filed before the lower courts of the place where the award must have its effects. The deadline is set at five years from the arbitral award being notified; otherwise, the action of enforcement may no longer be brought. Spanish procedural legislation establishes that no enforcement of arbitral awards may be initi - ated until 20 days have elapsed. Once the court has examined the request and if it deems that the request meets all the applicable requirements, it dictates that the enforcement pro - cedure shall be carried out and notifies the affected party. The affected party may oppose the enforcement of the award within ten days on the grounds that the payment has already been met or that an agreement between debtor and creditor has been reached. It may also oppose the enforcement in view of procedural defects. The claimant is subsequently granted five days to allege whatever it deems opportune regarding the opposition, and the court finally renders its verdict.
The enforcement of arbitral awards may only be sus - pended in very special cases, such as when insolven - cy proceedings have been initiated before the respec - tive Commercial Court. The enforcement of the arbitral award shall be completed once the creditor has been paid in full. 4.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Arbitral Awards Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, arbitrators shall decide on the dispute within six months of the date of submission of the writ of defence or by the expiry of the time limit for submitting the writ, accord - ing to Article 37.2 of the Spanish Arbitral Law Act 2003 (AA). Arbitration proceedings can be extended for a maximum period of two months, unless otherwise agreed by the parties. Arbitration costs will include the following: • arbitration centre expenses, such as for renting of the meeting rooms and administrative costs; • fees for the translation of documents; • fees for advisers, experts, lawyers and arbitrators; and • costs related to the witness(es). 4.6 Challenging Enforcement of Arbitral Awards In general terms, the grounds for challenging awards (domestic or foreign) do not include revision on sub - stantive matters of law applied or the proper law appli - cable to the arbitration. Grounds for challenging domestic and foreign arbitral awards are different, as are the actions and procedural rules established to challenge them. Nevertheless, the grounds for challenging foreign awards under the New York Convention and the grounds for challenging domestic awards under the AA are very similar. The aim is to provide flexible enforcement proceedings for foreign awards, due to the undeniable extent and use of the New York Convention. Foreign awards share the same standing as domestic judgments; they are categorised as similar to judicial titles, and can be enforced without any exequatur pro - ceedings.
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