ARBITRATION (FOREIGN AWARDS AND AGREEMENTS) ACT 1974 No. 136 of 1974 - SECT 8 Recognition of foreign awards.

ARBITRATION (FOREIGN AWARDS AND AGREEMENTS) ACT 1974 No. 136 of 1974 - SECT 8

8. (1) Subject to this Act, a foreign award is binding by virtue of this Act
for all purposes on the parties to the arbitration agreement in pursuance of
which it was made.

(2) Subject to this Act, a foreign award may be enforced in a court of a State
or Territory as if the award had been made in that State or Territory in
accordance with the law of that State or Territory.

(3) Subject to this Act and without limiting the operation of sub- section
(2), if a Court by the name of the Superior Court of Australia is established
by an Act, a foreign award may, on or after the date on which that Court
commences to exercise its jurisdiction, be enforced, by leave of that Court,
as if the award were a judgment of that Court.

(4) Where-

   (a)  at any time, a person seeks the enforcement of a foreign award by
        virtue of this Act; and

   (b)  the country in which the award was made is not, at that time, a
        Convention country, sub-sections (1), (2) and (3) do not have effect
        in relation to the award unless that person is, at that time,
        domiciled or ordinarily resident in Australia or in a
        Convention country.

(5) Subject to sub-section (6), in any proceedings in which the enforcement of
a foreign award by virtue of this Act is 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)  that party, being a party to the arbitration agreement in pursuance of
        which the award was made, was, under the law applicable to him, under
        some incapacity at the time when the agreement was made;

   (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;

   (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 case in the arbitration proceedings;

   (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;

   (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 arbitration
        agreement 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 Act is 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.

(8) Where, in any proceedings in which the enforcement of a foreign award by
virtue of this Act is 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.