Introduction – The Mauritius Legislative Framework Until 1996, the enforcement of arbitral awards in Mauritius was governed by the Mauritian Code de Procédure Civile. This was a rather old-fashioned regime based on French law and adopted in 1808 and had not been amended to cater for the realities of the modern commercial world. In 1996 Mauritius ratified The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, also known as the "New York Convention". The ratification was subject to the reservation of reciprocity, so that Mauritius would only be bound to enforce awards made in other states which had ratified the New York Convention. This is not an unusual reservation to adopt, but it gives rise to issues over the adequacy of another state’s adherence to the New York Convention. It can also be used to place additional formal requirements on enforcement.
The Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards Act 2001 – A First Milestone
In 2001 Mauritius adopted the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards Act 2001 (the “2001 Act”). The 2001 Act had, inter alia, the following effects:
Section 3(1) gave the force of law to the original text of the New York Convention, which was reproduced in a schedule to the 2001 Act;
Section 3(2) provided that regard would be had to the Recommendation regarding the interpretation of Article II (2) and Article VII (1) of the New York Convention adopted by UNCITRAL at its Thirty-Ninth session on 7 July 20062;
Section 2 and Section 4 provided that the Supreme Court of Mauritius would hear any application under the 2001 Act – this ensured that it would always be a senior court which would consider these matters; and
Section 4(3) provided that an appeal would lie, as of right, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council against any
decision of the Supreme Court under the 2001 Act – this ensured that one stage of appeal would be available, and that
the expertise of the English judges would be available to support the development of Mauritian law.
The International Arbitration Act 2008 – Setting the Tone to an Arbitration Seat of Choice
n 2008 Mauritius adopted the International Arbitration Act 2008 (the “2008 Act”), which brought a fundamental change to the landscape of international arbitration law in Mauritius. The 2008 Act is primarily focussed on arbitrations seated in Mauritius and other matters relevant to all international arbitrations. The 2008 Act3 also brought one fundamental change to the law regarding enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, in that the Supreme Court should be constituted to hear applications for enforcement in the form of a three-judge panel, in line with all matters heard under the 2008 Act. In particular, the 2008 Act also provided that any arbitration held under the 2008 Act4 would be subject to the same enforcement regime as for foreign awards.
