ANGOLA Law and Practice Contributed by: Cecília Mungongo, FBL ADVOGADOS
13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration Disputes over non-disposable rights or even those disputes subject to obligatory arbitration or to judicial courts are excluded from voluntary arbitration. Some restrictions apply to the signing of volun- tary arbitration agreements by the State; when the State is a party, arbitration is allowed in pri- vate law issues, administrative contracts and other cases specifically provided for by law. Minors and interdicted or disabled persons can- not enter into arbitration agreements, nor are arbitration agreements allowed on their behalf. In exceptional cases, minors and interdicted or incapacitated persons may intervene in arbitra- tion proceedings within the scope of agreements entered into by their legal representatives by way of hereditary succession. In other words, since business deals are not usually extinguished by the death of the contracting party, minors and incapacitated or disabled persons may succeed their legal representatives who are parties to the business deal in the arbitration proceedings, in the event of the representative’s death. 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award Arbitral awards may be challenged on the fol- lowing grounds: • the subject matter of the dispute is legally excluded from arbitral award; • the award was given by an arbitral court with- out jurisdiction; • the arbitration agreement has expired; • the award was given by an irregularly consti- tuted court; • there was a lack of reasoning;
• there has been an offence to any of the prin- ciples of equal treatment of the parties, to the opportunity for defence at all stages of the proceedings or to the opportunity for closing arguments, either oral or written, prior to the final award; • the arbitral court has ruled on matters that it should not hear, or has not ruled on questions on which it should have ruled; or • there has been a breach of the principles of public interest of the Angolan legal system. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration The award of an Angolan arbitral court may be enforced by judicial courts in the event of a fail- ure to comply. The judicial court will confirm the jurisdiction of the arbitral court, upon applica- tion of the interested party, and enforcement proceedings will follow the same rules as apply to the enforcement of a judicial court judgment. Angola acceded to the 1958 New York Con- vention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in 2017 and has since adopted the provisions of that Convention. 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform Reform of the arbitration law is ongoing, but no date has yet been set for its publication. 14.2 Growth Areas The principal areas of growth in commercial liti- gation are liquidation, insolvency and challenges to company resolutions.
28
CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook