INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION ACT 1974 - SECT 8 Recognition of foreign awards

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION ACT 1974 - SECT 8

  (1)   Subject to this Part, a foreign award is binding by virtue of this Act for all purposes on the parties to the award .

  (2)   Subject to this Part, a foreign award may be enforced in a court of a State or Territory as if the award were a judgment or order of that court.

  (3)   Subject to this Part, a foreign award may be enforced in the Federal Court of Australia as if the award were a judgment or order of that court.

Note:   F or the enforcement of a foreign award against a foreign State, or a separate entity of a foreign State, see the Foreign States Immunities Act 1985 .

  (3A)   The court may only refuse to enforce the foreign award in the circumstances mentioned in subsections   ( 5) and (7).

  (5)   Subject to subsection   ( 6), in any proceedings in which the enforcement of a foreign award by virtue of this Part   i s sought, the court may, at the request of the party against whom it is invoked, refuse to enforce the award if that party proves to the satisfaction of the court that:

  (a)   a party to the arbitration agreement in pursuance of which the award was made was, under the law applicable to him or her , under some incapacity at the time when the agreement was made; or

  (b)   the arbitration agreement is not valid under the law expressed in the agreement to be applicable to it or, where no law is so expressed to be applicable, under the law of the country where the award was made; or

  (c)   that party was not given proper notice of the appointment of the arbitrator or of the arbitration proceedings or was otherwise unable to present his or her case in the arbitration proceedings; or

  (d)   the award deals with a difference not contemplated by, or not falling within the terms of, the submission to arbitration, or contains a decision on a matter beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration; or

  (e)   the composition of the arbitral authority or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with the law of the country where the arbitration took place; or

  (f)   the award has not yet become binding on the parties to the award or has been set aside or suspended by a competent authority of the country in which, or under the law of which, the award was made.

  (6)   Where an award to which paragraph   ( 5)(d) applies contains decisions on matters submitted to arbitration and those decisions can be separated from decisions on matters not so submitted, that part of the award which contains decisions on matters so submitted may be enforced.

  (7)   In any proceedings in which the enforcement of a foreign award by virtue of this Part   i s sought, the court may refuse to enforce the award if it finds that:

  (a)   the subject matter of the difference between the parties to the award is not capable of settlement by arbitration under the laws in force in the State or Territory in which the court is sitting; or

  (b)   to enforce the award would be contrary to public policy.

  (7A)   To avoid doubt and without limiting paragraph   ( 7)(b), the enforcement of a foreign award would be contrary to public policy if:

  (a)   the making of the award was induced or affected by fraud or corruption; or

  (b)   a breach of the rules of natural justice occurred in connection with the making of the award.

  (8)   Where, in any proceedings in which the enforcement of a foreign award by virtue of this Part   i s sought, the court is satisfied that an application for the setting aside or suspension of the award has been made to a competent authority of the country in which, or under the law of which, the award was made, the court may, if it considers it proper to do so, adjourn the proceedings, or so much of the proceedings as relates to the award, as the case may be, and may also, on the application of the party claiming enforcement of the award, order the other party to give suitable security.

  (9)   A court may, if satisfied of any of the matters mentioned in subsection   ( 10), make an order for one or more of the following:

  (a)   for proceedings that have been adjourned, or that part of the proceedings that has been adjourned, under subsection   ( 8) to be resumed;

  (b)   for costs against the person who made the application for the setting aside or suspension of the foreign award;

  (c)   for any other order appropriate in the circumstances.

  (10)   The matters are:

  (a)   the application for the setting aside or suspension of the award is not being pursued in good faith; and

  (b)   the application for the setting aside or suspension of the award is not being pursued with reasonable diligence; and

  (c)   the application for the setting aside or suspension of the award has been withdrawn or dismissed; and

  (d)   the continued adjournment of the proceedings is, for any reason, not justified.

  (11)   An order under subsection   ( 9) may only be made on the application of a party to the proceedings that have, or a part of which has, been adjourned.