In most cases, the award debtor will perform his obligations voluntarily. However, if the debtor refuses to comply with the award, the award creditor can seek to have the award recognised and enforced before a competent court. A fundamental issue that the award creditor must consider is the time that is available for him to file a petition for the recognition and enforcement of a foreign award in a given jurisdiction. Statutes and case law address this matter differently. In some jurisdictions, the time limit to file a petition for the recognition and enforcement of a foreign award was very short, ranging from half year to 1 year. In other jurisdictions, time limits are set at 30 years. Still others provide time limits of 3, 5, 6 or even 10 years. This article draws a comparative picture of current statutes and case law relating to time limits for the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards by analysing different jurisdictions from both civil and common law systems.
ASA Bulletin