Iraq acceded to the New York Arbitration Convention of 1958

Iraq’s Ratification to the New York Convention of 1958 on the Recognition of Foreign Arbitration Awards “Convention”

The Iraqi Council of Representatives voted on 3/4/2021 on the law of Iraq’s accession to the Convention on the Recognition and Implementation of Foreign Arbitration Decisions of 1958, which entered into force on June 7, 1959. The law adhered to the following reservations though:

First – That the provisions of this Convention towards the Republic of Iraq do not apply to arbitration decisions issued prior to the enforcement of this law.

Second – That the Convention does not apply with regard to the recognition and implementation of decisions issued in the territory of another contracting state, except on the basis of reciprocity.

Third – That the Convention does not apply by the Republic of Iraq except to disputes arising from contractual legal relationships that are considered commercial under Iraqi law.

The law of the Convention ratification will be effective from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette, which states in its causation (For the purpose of in-Iraq recognition and implementation of foreign arbitration decisions issued in the territory of another state party to the Convention on the Recognition and Implementation of Foreign Arbitration Awards and their implementation on the basis of reciprocity, and joining the Convention on the Recognition and Implementation of Foreign Arbitration Awards (New York 1958), this law was enacted)

It is needless to say that the New York Convention of 1958 is one of the most important international collective agreements concerned with commercial arbitration in its (16) legal articles,  and the 167 countries joining it until 2/6/2021, including several Arab countries.