CYPRUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyriacos Scordis and Sofi Mylona, SCORDIS PAPAPETROU & Co LLC
As a general rule, an express choice of law by the contracting parties will be recognised and upheld by the Cyprus courts. On 20 April 2006, Cyprus ratified the Rome Convention by Law 15(III) of 2006, and Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 (“Rome I”) has applied since 17 December 2009. In accordance with Article 5 of Rome I, in the absence of an express or implied choice of law, the proper law shall be the law of the country of habitual residence of the carrier, provided that the place of receipt, the place of delivery or the habitual residence of the consignor is also situ - ated in that country. If those requirements are not met, the law of the country where the place of delivery (as agreed by the parties) is situated shall apply. 6.2 Enforcement of Law and Arbitration Clauses Incorporated Into a Bill of Lading General words in a bill of lading incorporating into it all the terms and conditions of another document (such as a charterparty) may not be sufficient to incorporate an arbitration clause contained in that document into the bill of lad - ing such as to make its provisions applicable to disputes arising under the bill of lading. However, if a bill of lading contains specific words that attempt to incorporate an arbitra - tion clause of, for example, a charterparty, the Cyprus courts may recognise and enforce the arbitration clause if the provisions in the charter - party are worded in such a manner as to make sense in the context of the bill of lading, and if they do not conflict with any express term con - tained in the bill of lading. 6.3 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards Cyprus has ratified the 1958 New York Conven - tion on the Recognition and Enforcement of For -
eign Arbitral Awards (Law No 84/1979) (the “New York Convention”). Upon its accession to the New York Convention on 29 December 1980, Cyprus made a specific reservation of reciprocity: “The Republic of Cyprus will apply the Conven - tion, on the basis of reciprocity, to the recogni - tion and enforcement of awards made only in the territory of another Contracting State; further - more, it will apply the Convention only to differ - ences arising out of legal relationships, whether contractual or not, which are considered as commercial under its national law.” Domestic arbitration proceedings in Cyprus are governed by the Arbitration Law of 1944, Chap - ter 4, and international arbitration proceedings are governed by the International Arbitration in Commercial Matters Law 101/1987, which is almost identical to the UNCITRAL Model Law. 6.4 Arrest of Vessels Subject to Foreign Arbitration or Jurisdiction Although a foreign jurisdiction clause does not deprive the Cyprus courts of their jurisdiction, strong reasons must be presented as to why such a clause should be disregarded. The exist - ence of an arbitration or a foreign jurisdiction clause must in any case be expressly disclosed when applying ex parte for the arrest; such infor - mation is considered to be relevant for establish - ing the in rem jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court, so it is necessary for the Court to reach the right conclusion regarding the arrest. Non-disclosure of such a clause may result in the discharge of the order and the release of the vessel. 6.5 Domestic Arbitration Institutes There is no domestic arbitration institute in Cyprus specialising in maritime claims.
163 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook