The recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral judgements in Romania

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.