The National Parliament discussed and approved, today, February 2nd, 2021, with 31 votes in favour, zero votes against and three abstentions, the Resolution Proposal 3/V(2nd), concerning Timor Leste’s accession to the 1958’s New York Convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.
The plenary session was attended by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fidelis Manuel Leite Magalhães, the Minister of Justice, Manuel Cárceres da Costa and the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Julião da Silva.
The Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers presented a general framework on the Resolution Proposal and defended the importance of Timor-Leste’s accession to this Convention, as it is an important incentive to intensify trade relations with abroad and a factor in promoting foreign investment. The Convention has already been ratified by more than 160 countries and is considered the most important multilateral agreement under international Arbitration Law.
The accession to this convention, together with the National Parliament’s authorization to the Government, already approved yesterday, to amend the Code of Civil Procedure and with the Legal Regime of Voluntary Arbitration, which is currently in the detailed discussion phase, integrate a set of proposals of the extinct Ministry of Legislative Reform and Parliamentary Affairs, in order to guarantee the improvement and strengthening of justice administration system, so that it will offer to all citizens a judicial service that ensures an objective, impartial, equitable, useful and efficient resolution of disputes.
The New York Convention applies to the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards delivered in the territory of a State other than the one where the recognition and enforcement of judgments are requested and resulting from disputes between natural or legal persons. It also applies to arbitral awards which are not considered national awards in the State in which their recognition and enforcement are requested.
Arbitration is an alternative method for resolving conflicts between the parties vis-à-vis the regular judicial system. The parties in conflict agree the dispute to be resolved by arbitrators appointed by them and the final decision is binding on the parties and has the executive force of the courts’ decisions.
One of the main advantages of arbitration is the cases’ resolution speed and the competence of the persons who decide the dispute, given the complexity and specificity of some of the topics under consideration. Following a set of international rules, enabling greater speed in conflict resolution and being decision-binding, foster the confidence of external partners and mitigates possible barriers to their investment in the country.