ANGOLA Law and Practice Contributed by: José Miguel Oliveira, Sara Alves Lourenço, Caio de Mello Ferreira and João Saiago Canjeque, VdA
6.3 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards The 1958 New York Convention on the Recogni - tion and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards is applicable in Angola. With regard to domestic law, Articles 1094 to 1096 of the Civil Procedure Code are applicable to the review and confirmation of foreign judg - ments. As a rule, any judgment awarded by a foreign court shall be subject to review and con - firmation by the Supreme Court in order to be valid and enforceable in Angola. The following set of requirements must be met for the review and confirmation of a foreign judg - ment, as set out by Article 1096 of the Civil Pro - cedure Code: • there are no doubts as to the authenticity of the judgment and the intelligibility of its deci - sion; • it must have become a final decision (not subject to appeal) according to the law of the country where the judgment was issued; • it comes from a foreign court whose jurisdic - tion has not been fraudulently acquired, and it does not concern a matter of exclusive jurisdiction of the Angolan courts; • there is no case pending or decided before an Angolan court, unless the foreign court has prevented jurisdiction; • the defendant has been duly summoned to the proceedings, in accordance with the law of the country of the court of origin, and the principles of adversarial proceedings and equality of the parties have been observed; and • it does not contain a decision whose rec - ognition would lead to a result manifestly incompatible with international public policy
bills of lading), as established by Article 41(1) of the Civil Code. However, that choice must cor - respond to a serious interest of the parties or be connected to a relevant element of the contract (eg, the place where the parties are domiciled or the contract shall be performed), as set out by Article 41(2) of the Civil Code. Jurisdiction Clauses As a rule, jurisdiction clauses stated in contracts (including bills of lading) are valid and enforce - able, as long as they arise from a written agree - ment, in which the competent jurisdiction is expressly mentioned, as established by Article 99 of the Civil Procedure Code. Article 5 of Executive Decree 26/97 further establishes that Angolan courts’ jurisdiction cannot be excluded in matters of international maritime law that would be within the jurisdiction of Angolan courts in accordance with Angolan domestic law, unless the parties are foreigners and if it is a question regarding an obligation that must be performed in foreign territory and does not relate to assets located, registered or enrolled in Angola. 6.2 Enforcement of Law and Arbitration Clauses Incorporated Into a Bill of Lading Pursuant to Articles 1(1) and 3(1) of Law No 16/03 of 25 July 2003 (“Law 16/03”), an arbi - tration clause is valid as long as it arises from a written agreement from the parties and con - cerns a claim of rights that can be disposed of or waived and that is not attributed to the exclusive jurisdiction of Angolan courts. For choice of law clauses, see 6.1 Enforcement of Law and Jurisdiction Clauses Stated in Bills of Lading .
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