Recognition and Enforcement (Arbitration Agreement and Foreign Arbitral) Act, 2011

This Act gives legal effect in Pakistan to the 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the "New York Convention"), which is reproduced in full as the Schedule to the Act. It allows businesses and individuals to enforce arbitration agreements made with foreign parties and to enforce arbitration awards issued abroad, rather than having to re-litigate the underlying dispute in Pakistani courts.

Section 1 confirms the Act applies to arbitration agreements made before or after its commencement, but excludes foreign arbitral awards made before 14 July 2005. Section 2 defines key terms, including "Court" (a High Court or another superior court notified by the Federal Government) and "foreign arbitral award" (an award made in a state that is party to the Convention, or another state notified by the Federal Government). Section 3 gives the designated Court exclusive jurisdiction over matters under this Act, following the procedure of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Section 4 lets a party facing court proceedings that are covered by an arbitration agreement apply to stay those proceedings and be referred to arbitration instead — unless the court finds the arbitration agreement null, void, inoperative, or incapable of being performed. Section 5 requires a party seeking recognition and enforcement of a foreign award to furnish the documents specified in Article IV of the Convention (the authenticated award and the underlying arbitration agreement, translated if necessary). Section 6 requires the Court to recognise and enforce a qualifying foreign arbitral award in the same way as a Pakistani court's own judgment, unless it is refused under Section 7. Section 7 limits refusal of enforcement strictly to the grounds set out in Article V of the Convention — for example, incapacity of a party, lack of proper notice of the arbitration, the award exceeding the scope of the arbitration agreement, or the award not yet being binding.

Section 8 provides that if this Act conflicts with the Convention itself, the Convention prevails. Section 9 lets the Federal Government make rules to carry out the Act's purposes. Section 10 repeals the earlier Arbitration (Protocol and Convention) Act, 1937, but preserves its effect for awards made before this Act's commencement or falling outside this Act's narrower definition of "foreign arbitral award."

This Act is relatively recent (2011) and the extract shows no significant subsequent amendments, so its provisions can generally be relied upon as currently in force, though the Schedule's Convention text and Articles I-XVI govern the detailed grounds and procedures for recognition and refusal of foreign awards.