The recognition and the enforcement of foreign arbitral
judgements are governed by the provisions found in Book VII of the New Code of
Civil Procedure of Romania, Title IV, Chapter II, entitled 'Effects of foreign
arbitral judgements".
According to these provisions, foreign arbitral judgements
are represented by any arbitration judgement of either domestic or
international arbitration in a foreign country that are not considered national
judgments in Romania. Such foreign arbitral judgements may be recognized and
enforced in Romania if the dispute forming its subject thereof may be settled
by arbitration in Romania and if the judgement does not contain provisions that
are contrary to the public order of the Romanian Private International Law.
The request for recognition and enforcement of foreign
arbitral decisions takes the form of a request addressed to the court in whose
district the person in regards to whom the decision is set against is domiciled
or has the headquarters. If the competent court can not be determined in this
manner, the power to solve the application for recognition and enforcement of the
foreign arbitral decision will belong to the Bucharest Tribunal.
The person who makes use of a foreign arbitral judgement may
only require its recognition in order to invoke res judicata or, in case the
decision is not executed voluntarily, the consent for a forced execution in
Romania. Moreover, the recognition of foreign arbitral judgements may also be
requested incidentally.
Along with the request for recognition or enforcement of the
judgment, a person must also consign the arbitral judgement, along with the
arbitration agreement, either in original or their copies, that are subject to the
super-legalization conditions established by the Romanian law. In case these
documents are not written in Romanian, the applicant will have to submit their certified
translation into Romanian.
The court may suspend the application for recognition and the
enforcement proceedings of the arbitral judgement if the cancellation or
suspension of the decision is requested by the competent authorities in the
state where it was issued or the State under whose law the judgement has been
pronounced. In this case, at the applicant's request, the court may require the
other party to deposit a bail.
The Romanian law provides for certain reasons that can
justify the rejection of the recognition or enforcement of foreign arbitral
judgements, namely:
◦ the parties do not have the ability to conclude the
arbitral convention under the applicable law of each of the parties;
◦ the arbitral convention was not valid under the law to which
the parties have subjected it or, failing that law, the law of the State in
which the arbitral judgement has been pronounced;
◦ the party against whom the judgment is invoked was not
informed about the appointment of the arbitrators or of the arbitral
proceedings or was unable to capitalize on their defense in the arbitration
process;
◦ the establishment of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral
procedure was not assorted with the agreement between the parties or, failing
that, the law of the place where the arbitration took place;
◦ the judgment concerns an unpredicted difference in the
arbitration agreement or outside the limits fixed by it or contains provisions
that exceed the terms of the arbitral convention; however, if the provisions of
the decision which relate to matters submitted to arbitration can be separated
from those concerning matters not subject to the arbitration, the former may be
recognized and declared enforceable;
◦ the arbitral judgement has not yet become binding on the
parties, it has been canceled or suspended by a competent authority in the
state where or under whose law the judgement was pronounced.
The decision regarding the application for recognition or
enforcement may be challenged only by appeal.
A foreign arbitration decision that was rendered by a
competent arbitral tribunal benefits from probative force on what concerns the
facts that it ascertains.
The court can not examine the merits of the arbitral judgement.
The lawyers within the
law firm Darie, Manea & associates can provide more information regarding
the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral judgements in Romania. Do
not hesitate to consult the list of
lawyers in our team which you can find on our official website and feel free to contact us at any
time.
