The Grounds for Setting Aside Arbitral Awards under the Egyptian Arbitration Code: Unresolved Choice of Law Issues and Unwanted Extraterritorialism

Abstract

Abstract This article analyses the choice of law issues associated with setting aside an arbitral award under the Egyptian Arbitration Code (the Code), the challenges posed by applying the Code to arbitration conducted outside Egypt, and the lack of a clear criterion to define the Code’s scope of application. Choice of law issues – such as the law governing the parties’ capacity, the law governing the agreement to arbitrate and the applicable curial – are not addressed by defined choice of law rules. Under Egyptian law, there are several conflicting choices of rules. Finally, the article focuses on the Egyptian courts’ tendency to apply Egyptian law extraterritorially, either to protect Egyptian public policy or to apply Egyptian mandatory rules to determine the procedural validity of the arbitral award and the arbitration proceedings in general.