Recognition and Enforcement of International Arbitration Awards: A Case Study of Malaysia and Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Recognition and enforcement are crucial elements of arbitration. Without the possibility for the winning party to enforce the arbitral award in its desired country, the whole arbitration process becomes pointless. This paper discusses the requirements for recognition and enforcement of international arbitration awards in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The paper aims to provide a clarification to the Arbitration law in both countries focusing mainly on the issue of the requirements regarding the recognition and enforcement of international arbitration awards. In this paper, both the Malaysian Arbitration Act 2005 and the Saudi Arbitration Act 2012 were compared with the Convention on Settlement of Investment Disputes 1965 (ICSID Convention). The methodology adopted in this paper was purely doctrinal in nature focusing mainly on the primary and secondary sources. On a final note, the paper concluded that the two Acts are less similar to the ICSID Convention when it comes to the requirements for recognition and enforcement of international arbitration awards. Hence, there is an urgent need for the two countries to adopt some form of reforms as far as the two Acts are concerned especially on the issue of ‘reciprocity reservation’ since it adds more complications to business transaction.