BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Dominique Blommaert, Jens Benoot, Fryderyk de Peslin Lachert and Lydie Van Muylem, Janson
• 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 dispute was not an arbitrable matter; • enforcement or execution would be contrary to Belgian international public policy; and • the award was obtained by fraud. Except for the final three grounds, which may be raised ex officio by the judge, the obligation rests on the party that seeks the setting aside of a Belgian arbitral award, to present proof of the grounds that are invoked.
Parties lose the possibility to request the setting aside of an award if they were aware of the grounds men - tioned in the first, second, third and fifth bullet points during the arbitration procedure and failed to invoke those grounds before the arbitral tribunal. Decisions on a setting-aside petition may not be appealed before the courts of appeal, but only before the Supreme Court (for matters of law exclusively). Challenge of the Exequatur Order Once the exequatur order of an arbitral award has been notified, the opposing party has one month after service to file third-party opposition. The grounds for challenging the exequatur order are listed under 4.3 Categories of Arbitral Awards Not Enforced . Challenge of the Enforcement Proceedings The debtor may still challenge the conservatory or executory attachments put in place by the enforcing party. The grounds for challenging these proceedings have been examined under 2.5 Challenging Enforce- ment of Domestic Judgments .
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