Part II of Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 deals with enforcement of foreign awards passed in international commercial arbitration.
The procedure for enforcement of foreign award will differ for awards under New York Convention (Chapter 1 in Part II) and Geneva Convention (Chapter II in Part II). After obtaining the foreign award, the award creditor is required to file an application for enforcement before the appropriate high court and only after the court is satisfied that the foreign award is enforceable under the Part II of the Act, the award shall become decree of that court.
Only when the enforcement application is filed by the award creditor can the award debtor file its objections on the conditions stipulated under section 48 and 57 of the Act. Despite the objections raised by the award debtor, if the court finds that there is no merit in the objections raised, the award will be executable by the Indian courts. Some of the important points that need to be considered while filing an enforcement application is that the original arbitral award or copy duly authenticated in the manner required by the laws of the country where it is made, is to be filed. If it is in any other language, it is required to be translated into English. Even the original agreement for arbitration or certified copy is required to be filed while filing application for enforcement of foreign award. Although the Act does not provide any limitation period to file an application for enforcement of foreign award, the judicial precedents mandates that it shall be filed within a period of 3 years from the date when right accrues.