Practice of Commercial Arbitration and Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards Concerning Disputes in Uzbekistan: A Comparison with Germany

Abstract

The successful development of International Commercial Arbitration and its institutional significance in the system of International Economic Relations show that the role of the International Commercial Arbitration is increasing steadily in the era of globalization. In recent years, leading international arbitration institutions acknowledge the rapid growth of arbitration cases involving the countries of the former Soviet Union including the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Uzbek legal framework has significantly improved because of the new legal reforms in the sphere of arbitration. In order to develop a more arbitration-friendly climate in the country, Uzbekistan should initiate more cooperation and communications in the field of International Commercial Arbitration with European countries, since these countries are known with the widest range of sophistication and experience of arbitration. Taking this into account, the author of this dissertation tries to make a comparison of the arbitration regimes of Uzbekistan and Germany, while Germany as Europe’s leading economy, has a long-standing tradition as an arbitration-friendly jurisdiction providing for modern and internationally accepted rules. It should also be noted that the German courts, in contrast with the Uzbek courts recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards and protect the principle of finality of the arbitral award. In this regard this thesis aims at analysing the hurdles and difficulties relating to recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in the Republic of Uzbekistan and evaluating the effectiveness of the country’s legal framework concerning this procedure. Today most countries of the world recognize the final and binding force of international arbitral awards, and the recognition and enforcement of these awards is a central element for successful arbitration. This study explores the conflicts of legal cultures and systems apparent during enforcement proceedings of foreign arbitral awards in both countries. The New York Convention of 1958, the most significant reason for the success of International Commercial Arbitration, applies to the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in more than 150 states in the world. Despite the fact that the New York Convention has facilitated enforcement of arbitral awards, it has not resolved all the issues, which create difficulties for the domestic courts of the signatories of the Convention in recognizing and enforcing of foreign arbitral awards. Therefore, some countries like Germany adopted some rules that are not contained in the New York Convention, e.g. the NYC leaves some space for review of foreign arbitral awards on the grounds of public policy of the state. These issues will be analysed in this study as well.