ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: James Herring, Nathalie Allen and David Wigg, Addleshaw Goddard
Permission to serve the arbitration claim form outside the jurisdiction may also be required, depending on where the defendant(s) is/are based. The application can be made ex parte. The court will then grant leave to enforce the award or direct that the arbitration claim form is served on the defendant(s) before the order is made, in which case the enforce - ment proceedings will then continue as adversarial proceedings. If the court grants leave to enforce the award, the defendant will then be served with the order and have a period of 14 days (or longer, as specified by the court) to apply to have the order set aside. 4.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Arbitral Awards Time As discussed in 4.4 Process of Enforcing Arbitral Awards , making an application to the courts of Eng - land and Wales for leave to enforce an arbitral award is a relatively straightforward process. It will then depend on how quickly the court deals with the application and whether it decides to make the order for leave to enforce (which could happen in days) or direct that the arbitration claim form be served on the defendant and enforcement then be disputed. A summary procedure is available to a party seeking to enforce when there are no objections. Costs The costs include the applicable court fee (as of July 2025, GBP80 in the High Court or GBP54 in the Coun - ty Court), as well as legal costs. Additional court fees will be payable when applying for execution against the award debtor’s assets. The legal costs will depend on the amount of work involved and whether enforce - ment is disputed. 4.6 Challenging Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Grounds for Refusing Recognition and Enforcement of New York Convention Awards Under Section 103 of the 1996 Act Unless there is a recognised ground for refusing enforcement under Section 103 of the 1996 Act, the courts of England and Wales are bound to recog - nise and enforce foreign awards under the New York
Convention. The grounds for refusal to recognise and enforce a foreign award include the following. • A party to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity, or the arbitration agreement was not valid (Section 103 (2)(a) and (b) of the 1996 Act). • Proper notice of the appointment of the arbitrator or the arbitration proceedings was not given (or the other party was otherwise unable to present their case) (Section 103 (2)(c) of the 1996 Act). • The award deals with a difference not contemplat - ed by, or not falling within, the terms of the submis - sion to arbitration, or contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration (Section 103 (2)(d) of the 1996 Act). This is subject to Section 103 (4) of the 1996 Act, which provides that an award that contains decisions on matters not submitted to arbitration may be recognised or enforced to the extent that it contains decisions on matters submitted to arbitration that can be sepa - rated from those matters not submitted. • The composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties or, failing such agreement, with the law of the country in which the arbitration took place (Section 103 (2)(e) of the 1996 Act). • The award has not yet become binding on the parties, or has been set aside or suspended by a competent authority of the country in which, or under the law of which, it was made (Section 103 (2)(f) of the 1996 Act). • The matter was not capable of settlement by way of arbitration or it would be contrary to public pol - icy to recognise or enforce the award (Section 103 (3) of the 1996 Act) – for example, criminal mat - ters or where there is a statutory right to be heard before a different tribunal (such as an employment tribunal) – or the objective under the contract that was the subject of the award was illegal under English law. These grounds may be raised by the court on its own initiative. Of note, the 2025 Act will restrict a party challenging an award on jurisdictional grounds from raising argu - ments and evidence that they did not put before the tribunal during the arbitration itself, unless the argu -
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