BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Dominique Blommaert, Jens Benoot, Fryderyk de Peslin Lachert and Lydie Van Muylem, Janson
4. Arbitral Awards 4.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Arbitral Awards The Belgian law on arbitration is inspired to a large extent by the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration and is included as Part 6 of the BJC. More specifically, Chapter VII of Part 6 of the BJC provides for rules on challenging arbitral awards, while chapter VIII contains the rules on recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards. These are the two main legal issues that may arise in enforcing an arbitral award. Furthermore, Belgium is a party to various treaties covering the enforcement and recognition of arbitral awards, including the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958 (the “New York Convention”, regarding which Bel - gium made a reservation of reciprocity), the Conven - tion on the Settlement of Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States of 18 March 1965 (the “ICSID Convention”), and the Geneva Convention on International Commercial Arbitration of 21 April 1961. Belgium has also signed numerous bilateral treaties relating to recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards – eg, with Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ger - many, Austria and France. 4.2 Variations in Approach to Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Enforcement Both domestic and foreign arbitral awards must be made enforceable through an identical procedure set forth in Chapter VIII of Part 6 of the BJC (see 4.4 Pro- cess of Enforcing Arbitral Awards ), unless otherwise stated in international conventions to which Belgium is a party. This is for instance the case for ICSID arbitral awards, the authenticity of which must first be validated by the Belgian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Justice then transfers the certified and verified docu - ments to the Court of Appeal of Brussels, which has jurisdiction to issue an exequatur order for the arbitral awards.
The grounds for refusing enforcement listed in Article 1721 of the BJC apply to Belgian arbitral awards and serve as the default rules for foreign arbitral awards to which no specific treaty is applicable, such as the New York Convention. Setting Aside The procedure and grounds for setting aside an arbi - tral award set forth in Chapter VII of Part 6 of the BJC only apply when the seat of arbitration was located in Belgium. Foreign awards may therefore not be set aside by Belgian jurisdictions. 4.3 Categories of Arbitral Awards Not Enforced Awards that are affected by one of the grounds for refusing enforcement listed in Article 1721 of the BJC (if applicable, see 4.2 Variations in Approach to Enforcement of Arbitral Awards ) will not be enforced in Belgium: Grounds that must be proven by the defending party: • the arbitration agreement is invalid (including due to incapacity of a party); • a party has not been informed of the arbitral proceedings or was not in a position to defend its rights, provided that the irregularity has an effect on the arbitral award; • the dispute did not fall within the scope of the arbi - tration agreement; • the arbitral award lacks the reasoning of the arbitral tribunal (when motivation is prescribed by applica - ble law, which is the case in Belgium); • the arbitral tribunal was irregularly constituted or the arbitral proceedings had not been followed, provided that the irregularity (other than in the composition of the arbitral tribunal) affected the award; • the award is still open for appeal before an arbitral body (unless it has been declared provisionally enforceable by the arbitral tribunal); • the award has been set aside or suspended; and • excess of power of the arbitral tribunal. Grounds that may be raised ex officio by the court: • the dispute was not an arbitrable matter;
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