Many business owners and commercial companies include an arbitration clause in their contracts, despite both arbitration and litigation being methods of dispute resolution which can be utilized to settle contractual. Arbitration generally falls under the scope of “alternative dispute resolution” and can be a means of quickly resolving commercial disputes.

It should be noted, that once the arbitral tribunal renders its award, the award is final, and the arbitration decision may not be challenged through any methods of appeal.  However, the party against whom the award has been issued may request that the award be declared null and void if certain conditions  specified by Egyptian law are satisfied, namely:

• The award was based on an invalid arbitration agreement or it was voidable or its duration had elapsed.
• Either party to the arbitration agreement was at the time of the conclusion of the arbitration agreement fully or partially incapacitated according to the law governing its legal capacity.
• Either party was denied the opportunity to properly present its case before the tribunal.
• The arbitral award failed to apply the law agreed upon by the parties.
• The composition of the arbitral tribunal or the appointment of the arbitrators was in conflict with the Arbitration Law or the parties’ agreement.
• The arbitral award dealt with matters not falling within the scope of the arbitration agreement or exceeding the limits of this agreement.
• The arbitral award or award-related procedures contain a legal violation causing nullity.

To establish nullity of the arbitral award, the court decides whether to accept or reject the case, considering whether or not the conditions set out above are entirely fulfilled. The tribunal has no authority to review the evidence submitted to the arbitrator or alter the merits of an arbitration award.

We refer below to one of the cases initiated by our office, in which the Cairo Court of Appeal has ruled for the nullity of the arbitrary award since it had dealt with matters not falling within the scope of the arbitration agreement, and had thus exceeded the limits of this agreement since the arbitration clause relates only to the interpretation of the contract without its implementation. It was decided by the court, that arbitration is an alternative method of dispute settlement, based primarily on the will of the contracting parties.

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To conclude, this article aims to emphasize that the arbitral award is final and binding on its parties. A party seeking to avoid the execution of that award must file for nullity, showing clear and specific evidence for the above points, and that the arbitration award was the result of error or corruption.