AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl, Patrizia Netal, Katrin Hanschitz and Natascha Tunkel, KNOETZL
in order for it to be recognised and fulfil the formal requirements. Furthermore, if the arbitral award is not in the offi - cial court language of Austria (ie, German), it must be translated and the translation must be certified by an official or sworn translator, or by a diplomatic or consular agent. In Austria, all translators listed as court-sworn translators fulfil the requirement of “offi - cial or sworn translator” under the New York Con - vention. Austrian courts require the translation of the entire award, in comparison to other countries, where partial translations may be deemed sufficient (OGH 3 Ob 211/05h). The proceedings for the declaration of recognition and enforceability of a foreign arbitral award are, in prin - ciple, conducted ex parte. In practice, award credi - tors combine the application for the declaration of recognition and enforceability with the application for the actual enforcement of the arbitral award, which is permissible under Section 412, paragraph 1 of the EA. The actual enforcement proceedings are conducted in the same way as domestic proceedings (see 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments ) by means of application to the competent district court where the award debtor has its seat or where the object, asset or third-party debtor is registered or located. 4.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Arbitral Awards Court Fees An application for a declaration of recognition and enforceability does not trigger court fees. For the application for enforcement, the general rules apply (see 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments ). Duration of Proceedings A declaration of recognition and enforceability can be obtained very quickly. Provided that all relevant documents have been submitted, the rendering of the ex parte decision may take no more than two to four weeks. However, in complex cases, it may take longer. Very often, a relevant factor affecting the dura - tion of proceedings is the service of the decision on the award debtor (which may take time regarding a foreign debtor outside the EU). Should the decision
be appealed, the proceedings will, on average, take between four and ten months, and possibly longer in complex cases. In the event of a recourse to the Austrian Supreme Court, a further six months may be expected until a decision is rendered. For the duration of enforcement proceedings, see 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments . 4.6 Challenging Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Appeal Proceedings The award debtor has a right to appeal ( Rekurs ) the decision within four weeks after being served the deci - sion, or within eight weeks if the award debtor has its seat or domicile abroad. The appeal decision may also be appealed before the Austrian Supreme Court ( Revi- sionsrekurs ) under certain conditions – in particular, if the dispute hinges on a legal question of general sig - nificant importance that has not previously been dealt with in the case law of the Austrian Supreme Court, or if the appeal court has deviated from existing case law of the Austrian Supreme Court. The general approach of the courts towards the rec - ognition and enforcement of arbitral awards is prag - matic, and the grounds to oppose recognition and enforcement as exhaustively listed in the applicable conventions are interpreted restrictively. The award debtor that opposes enforcement bears the burden of proof for the grounds it relies upon. The options available to appeal the enforcement of an award are identical to those generally available to appeal enforcement (see 2.2 Enforcement of Domes- tic Judgments ). Impact of Parallel (Appeal or Setting-Aside) Proceedings In practice, an arbitral award may be subject to set - ting-aside proceedings. In this case, the court may suspend the proceedings upon the application of the award debtor until a decision in the setting-aside proceeding has been rendered. Furthermore, to the extent that enforcement measures shall continue, the court may order the award creditor to post security. This approach is in line with both Article VI of the New York Convention and Section 411, paragraph 5 of the EA. In this context, the Austrian Supreme Court has
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