Enforcement of arbitration awards

Stay of enforcement

Under s66 Arbitration Act 1996 an application may be made to the court by the successful party to an arbitration to have the award enforced as if it was a judgment of the court. The cases on s66 and its predecessors in earlier legislation hold that the court is all but required to make an enforcement order unless there is clearly something very wrong with the award on the face of things. An enforcement application may be made without notice to the losing party. As is the case in all without notice applications, the applicant is required to disclose all material facts to the court. In Socadec SA v Pan Afric Impex Co Ltd [2003] EWHC 2086 (QB) an application was made to the court by the losing party to suspend an enforcement order made by the court on a without notice application, on the grounds that the award was defective and that the successful party had failed to make full disclosure to the court when the enforcement order was sought.