Foreign judgements
The Republic of Maldives is not a party to a treaty or agreement for bilateral or reciprocal enforcement of foreign judgments. Any judgment issued by the courts of jurisdictions other than the Republic of Maldives in connection (1) may not be automatically enforced in the Republic of Maldives, and (2) may be recognised and enforced in the Republic of Maldives, subject to requisite conditions provided in Maldives’ Civil Procedure Act (Law No. 32/2021) being satisfied.
The courts of the Republic of Maldives have not specifically ruled on an application for the enforcement of a judgment by the courts of foreign countries in connection with a contract containing such a provision.
Contractual Agreements to Arbitrate & Arbitration Awards
The Contracts Act (Law No. 4/1991) specifically stipulates that any clause in a contract requiring a party to refer to arbitration any dispute arising from the contract shall be valid, and therefore contractual agreements to arbitrate will be upheld.
Maldives is a signatory to the 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. Maldives signed up to the New York Convention on 17 September 2019, which came into force on 16 December 2019
Arbitration awards granted by an international arbitral tribunal and the local arbitral tribunal, will be recognized and enforced in the Republic of Maldives pursuant to the Maldives Arbitration Act 2013.
Where the Lender wishes to enforce a foreign arbitral award (upon receipt of a foreign arbitral award), it shall file an application at the Maldives Civil Court for recognition of the foreign arbitral award. The Civil Court would issue a ‘recognition order’ subject to Section 74 of the Arbitration Act (Grounds for Refusing Recognition or Enforcement), pursuant to which the applicant can request the court to proceed with enforcement of the foreign arbitral award. Grounds for refusing recognition or enforcement of foreign arbitral awards are limited to situations inter alia where the arbitration was conducted unfairly and in contravention with procedural rules. There is no judicial precedent of a case in Maldives where a foreign arbitral award has been set aside under such grounds.