Recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award in Cyprus

The REVERA team, together with a Cypriot lawyer, represented the client in proceedings for the recognition of an ICAC at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry award in Cyprus.

Case details

1. Cyprus and Ukraine (with the seat of arbitration in Kyiv) are parties to the 1958 New York Convention. In support of this, the application was accompanied by a certificate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus (pursuant to Law No. 103(I)/2002 on the proof of international treaties), confirming that Ukraine is a party to the Convention and that it is in force.

2. The applicant had the arbitration agreement only in the form of a scanned copy, without a physical original, as the contract was concluded by exchange of scanned copies.

3. Cyprus applies a common law system based on English law, under which an affidavit is used as evidence (in this case, an affidavit was filed in support of the application for recognition of a foreign arbitral award).

4. The language of the arbitration and the documents was Russian; accordingly, all materials were translated into Greek and certified by a sworn translator. Law No. 45(I)/2019 introduced the institution of the sworn translator in Cyprus. A sworn translator may produce certified translations of certain documents, which are accepted by the courts and public authorities of the Republic of Cyprus.

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Thanks to the proper preparation of the evidentiary record and a well-structured procedural strategy, the arbitral award was successfully recognised by a Cypriot court.

As a result, the client obtained the opportunity to enforce the debt in practice in the jurisdiction where the debtor’s assets are located.