Through the analysis of a recent decision by the Court of Appeals of Asturias, this article highlights the key differences that exist between the recognition of judicial and arbitral decisions under the Spanish legal system, and why it is paramount that these dissimilarities be taken into account in order to ensure the rights recognised in a foreign award can be enforced in Spain.
The Spanish Act on International Legal Cooperation (Ley de Cooperación Jurídica Internacional) allows for the accumulation of the applications to recognise and enforce judicial decisions in one sole brief, due to the fact that the same Court has jurisdiction to evaluate both applications. This, however, does not occur when recognising and enforcing arbitral awards, where different Courts have jurisdiction over each process. When, nevertheless, accumulation is mistaken for the possibility to simultaneously file both applications with their respective Courts, this can lead to procedural troubles which could put a hamper on, or even prevent, the enforcement in Spain of a foreign award. The article details how this undesirable situation was prevented by the Court of Appeals of Asturias.
Iurgium [previously Spain Arbitration Review]