DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Johannes Hedegaard and Tobias Bøgh, Bruun & Hjejle
4.2 Variations in Approach to Enforcement of Arbitral Awards As stated above under section 4.1 Legal Issues Con- cerning Enforcement of Arbitral Awards , all types of arbitral awards, regardless of the country in which they were made and whether the award concerns commercial matters, have binding effect in Denmark and are enforceable. With regard to the approach to enforcement, no distinction is made between Danish and foreign arbitral awards, which are both enforced in accordance with the procedure set out in the Danish Administration of Justice Act. 4.3 Categories of Arbitral Awards Not Enforced Declaratory awards cannot be enforced, nor can orders that are too vaguely worded. Please also refer to section 4.6 Challenging Enforcement of Arbitral Awards . 4.4 Process of Enforcing Arbitral Awards The enforcement of an arbitral award is subject to the same procedural framework as domestic judgments – ie, Chapters 45 to 57a of the Danish Administration of Justice Act. Consequently, the request for enforce - ment must be submitted to a competent bailiff’s court. The party requesting enforcement shall produce a certified copy of the arbitral award and of the arbitra - tion agreement, if it is in writing. In the event that the aforementioned documents are not in Danish, they shall, if deemed necessary by the bailiff’s court, be accompanied by a certified translation into Danish. 4.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Arbitral Awards Please refer to section 2.3 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Domestic Judgments . 4.6 Challenging Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Section 39 of the Danish Arbitration Act (which is based on Article 36 of the UNICITRAL Model Law), exhaustively lists the grounds on which enforcement of an arbitral award may be refused. According to Section 39 of the Danish Arbitration Act, the grounds for refusal are divided into (i) grounds for refusal at the request of the party against whom the
award is being invoked, and (ii) grounds for refusal that are not subject to the free disposal of the parties (“indispositive grounds”), and which must be applied by the court on its own motion (ex officio). It should be noted that it is not possible to derogate from Section 39 by agreement. The grounds for refusal at the request of the party against whom the award is being invoked include the following. • One of the parties to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity or the agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties subjected it or, failing any indication thereon, under the law of the country where the award was made. • The party against whom the award is invoked was not duly notified of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitration proceedings, or was otherwise unable to present its case. For example, in the Danish Supreme Court’s judgment of 20 March 2025 (published in UfR 2025.1922 H), enforcement of an arbitral award issued by the Shanghai Arbitra - tion Commission was refused on the grounds that the party requesting enforcement had not demon - strated that the party against whom enforcement was sought had received proper notice and thus had the opportunity to present its case. • The award deals with a dispute not considered by or not falling within the terms of the submission to arbitration, or it contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration, provided that, if the decisions on matters submit - ted to arbitration can be separated from those not so submitted, that part of the award which con - tains decisions on matters submitted to arbitration may be recognised and enforced. • The composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with the law of the country where the arbitration took place. • The award has not yet become binding on the par - ties, or has been set aside or suspended by a court of the country in which, or under the law of which, that award was made. However, this particular grounds for refusal does not apply in instances where the country in which an award has been
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