Seeking Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Court Judgments and Arbitral Awards in Egypt and the Mashriq Countries

Asserting a claim in an international transaction is often complex. If a transaction involves parties from different countries, the venue of dispute resolution will often be in a jurisdiction different from that where enforcement may have to be sought. In such a case, any ruling obtained will have to be recognized by the competent authority of the country where enforcement is sought (known as requested country). Obtaining recognition of a foreign ruling in the Middle East and North Africa is considerably challenging. Despite some progress having been made over the last decade, local courts are still rather reserved towards foreign ruling. In particular, the tendency of local authorities to conduct a full revision au fond under an extensive interpretation of the ordre public exception. This article provides an overview of the regulations in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt and formulates some suggestions on strategies of dealing with the challenges posed by the existing regimes