Egypt / 26 May 2004 / Cairo Court of Appeal / Egyptian British Company for General Development (GALINA) v. Danish Agriculture Seelizer Company / 7/121
| Country | Egypt |
| Court | Egypt, Cairo Court of Appeal |
| Date | 26 May 2004 |
| Parties | Egyptian British Company for General Development (GALINA) v. Danish Agriculture Seelizer Company |
| Case number | 7/121 |
| Applicable NYC Provisions | V | III | V(1)(e) |
| Languages | English |
| Summary | After Danish Agriculture Seelizer Company requested the enforcement of an arbitral award issued in Denmark according to the Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (the “ICC Rules”) before the Alexandria Court of First Instance, Egyptian British Company for General Development (GALINA) filed a lawsuit before the Cairo Court of Appeal, requesting the setting aside of said award. The Court decided that it lacked jurisdiction to rule on the challenge made by GALINA. It noted that the application of the Egyptian Arbitration Law is limited by its Article 1 to arbitration proceedings held in Egypt and international arbitration proceedings which the Parties agreed to submit to the Egyptian Arbitration Law and that this position corresponds to Egypt’s commitment under the NYC to recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards, as well as to the Parties’ agreement to hold arbitration proceedings outside of Egypt without submitting them to the Egyptian Arbitration Law, with the result that they agreed that their dispute shall escape the jurisdiction of the Egyptian Courts. The Court deducted from Articles III and V(1)(e) NYC that only the Courts of the State where the award was issued have jurisdiction to rule on requests for its setting aside. As Egypt acceded to the NYC by Presidential Decree No. 171/1959, the provisions of the NYC are applicable even when in contradiction with the Egyptian Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure and Arbitration Law. The rule that Egyptian Courts lack jurisdiction to rule on requests for the setting aside of foreign arbitral awards is a rule relating to jurisdiction and may be applied by the Court sua sponte. Since the arbitral award challenged by GALINA was issued in Denmark and the Parties did not agree on the application of the Egyptian Arbitration Law, this law does not apply to the arbitral award. |
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