Arbitral Award Analysis

The finality of the arbitral award is a characteristic in arbitration and a key factor in an arbitration agreement . The finality is a condition to enforce an arbitral award before a national court, and minimize the risk of a challenge or appeal of that arbitral award. The arbitral award becomes enforceable as a civil judgment through the process of confirmation.

The question is how the finality of the arbitral award can be proved? Whether or not there is an appeal to the award.

The RA Law on Commercial Arbitration does not foresee any condition to prove to the court that the arbitral award is final. Article 35 of the same Law only provides that “if the party wants to apply to the court to enforce the arbitral award he should supply the

The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) require documents to approve the award. The first document is the motion or the petition that requires the court to confirm. Similar to the RA law and also the New York Convention , the party may present the arbitration agreement and arbitration award. According to the article about the confirmation of the arbitral award, there can be a requirement of a separate affidavit setting forth the facts of the arbitration agreement, the hearing, and the award signed by the party and notarized. Hence, it can be assumed that if the following documents are approved by a notary, the court will consider the arbitral award as final. The winning party who wants to confirm the arbitral award may present a memorandum of law to support the request for confirmation. In the memorandum of law, the party may mention that they did not receive any notice from opposing party during three months after receiving the award. Therefore, the party can conclude that there is no appeal to the arbitral award. The memorandum of law can have legally binding force for the

If none of the above mentioned is available to prove the finality of the arbitral award, it can be referred to the State Bar of California which provides information regarding a fee dispute. It provides that “If the arbitration award grants you an amount for fees or costs or both, you should write the other party a letter and demand payment of the award amount.” There are conditions prescribed by the State Bar of California that should be met by the parties to present their request for enforcement of arbitral award. There should be request by one of the parties to enforce the arbitral award. It is stated that “The attorney on the other side will be given an opportunity to respond to your request and agree to a payment plan. He will also be able to ask for an opportunity to prove that he is financially unable to pay the