Enforcement of Arbitration Awards in Cyprus

Foreign arbitral awards can be enforced in Cyprus by virtue of the provisions of:

• the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1958 which was ratified by Law No. 84/1979
• the Cyprus International Commercial Arbitration Law No.101/1987.

What procedure should be followed in order to enforce a foreign arbitration award under the provisions of the New York Convention?

• The party seeking enforcement must file an application by summons accompanied by an affidavit.
• Such application must be served to the other party and must also be accompanied with the duly authenticated original award or a duly certified copy of it and the original agreement or a duly certified copy of it. If case the documents are not in Greek, then an official translation in Greek will be required.
• The other party can appear before the court and file an objection.

According to the Article VII of the New York Convention,”the provision of the present Convention shall not affect the validity of multilateral or bilateral agreements concerning the recognition and enforcement or arbitral awards entered into by the Contracting States nor deprive any interested party of any right he may have to avail himself of an arbitral award in the manner and to the extent allowed by the law or the treaties of the country where such award is sought to be relied upon”.

The above provision of the New York Convention expressly permits the use of any other mechanism of enforcement of arbitral award, provided by the National law.

What steps should be followed in order to enforce an arbitration award under the provisions of Law No. 101/87?

The party seeking enforcement must file an application by summons accompanied by an affidavit at the District Court.

• The party much also produce a duly authenticated original award together with the original agreement or a certified copy of the award and agreement. If the award and agreement are not in Greek, an official translation may be requested.
• The application will be fixed for hearing within approximately a month from the filing of the application.
• The respondent will be given the opportunity to contest the application by filing a written objection.

For more information on the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and on the conditions of non-enforcement, please get in touch with our team.