CYPRUS Trends and Developments Contributed by: Ioannis Economou, Eleftherios Economou and Michalis Zivanaris, Economou & Co LLC
creditor to the registrar of the competent district court; • a writ for the sale of immovable property or regis - tration of a charging order over the assets of the judgment debtor which requires a “by summons” application to the court pursuant to Part V of the Civil Procedure Law, Cap 6; • a writ of possession which requires an ex parte application to the court filed by the judgment creditor, accompanied by an affidavit in the form of Form No 96 of the Civil Procedure Rules; • a writ of sequestration of immovable property; • the encumbrance of immovable property by the registration thereon of the judgment (memo); • an order to the judgment debtor to make monthly payments over the judgment debt; • the commencement of bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings (not an enforcement method per se but commonly used when the judgment debtor is a Cypriot company, and the judgment debt amount exceeds EUR5,000); or • injunctions encumbering the interest of the judg - ment debtor on shares and other stock owned (charging orders). Arbitral awards The recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in Cypriot is governed by a framework of two important pieces of legislation. As a signatory to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”), Cyprus has adopted the Ratify - ing Law on the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1979 (Law 84/1979), which has effectively transposed the provi - sions of the New York Convention into domestic leg - islation. The second piece of legislation is the International Commercial Arbitration Law of 1987 (Law 101/1987), which is modelled after the UNCITRAL Model Law. Pursuant to Law 101/1987, international commercial arbitral awards can be recognised and registered regardless of the country which issued them.
Procedure for enforcement of arbitral awards The recognition and enforcement of foreign (non-EU) arbitral awards from jurisdictions with which Cyprus has a bilateral treaty for mutual recognition are gov - erned by Law 121 (I)/2000. The party seeking to reg - ister the arbitral award must file an application by summons. The respondent can file an objection, and the court will then issue its judgment regarding the registration of the award. Section 36 of Law 101/1987 outlines the grounds on which an arbitral award may be deemed non-enforceable. These include: • the subject matter of the dispute is not arbitrable under Cypriot law; and • the recognition or enforcement of the award would be contrary to the public policy of Cyprus. According to Section 21 of Law 101/1987, an arbitral award can be enforced with the court’s permission, in the same manner as a judicial decision or order. Gen - erally, Cypriot courts adopt a pro-enforcement stance. The execution of an arbitral award for monetary claims may involve: • the seizure and sale of movable property; • the sale or charging of immovable property; • the sequestration or attachment of property; • delivery orders for movable or immovable property; • examination of the judgment debtor in court; or • filing of a winding-up petition related to the judg - ment debt. Refusal of recognition A Cypriot court can refuse the recognition and reg - istration of an international arbitral award only on the basis of the grounds stipulated in Article V of the New York Convention, as transposed in Law 84/1979, which are the following: • incapacity of the parties or invalidity of the arbitra - tion agreement; or • failure to give proper notice of the appointment of the arbitrator or of the arbitration proceedings to the party against whom the award is invoked, or that a party was otherwise unable to present their case; or
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