The procedure for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards is regulated in book five of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedures of El Salvador (hereafter “CPCM”) and book three, section three of the Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration Law of El Salvador (hereafter “LMCA”).

El Salvador is a signatory of the 1958 New York Convention. It entered into force on May 27, 1998. There is no reservation under Article I (3) (reciprocity reservation) of the Convention.

The recognition of foreign arbitral awards or exequatur must be carried out before the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador (Arts. 28 and 557 CPCM).

Once recognized, the enforcement of said awards must be carried out by the first instance court of the domicile of the award-debtor, or if the award-debtor does not reside in El Salvador, of the domicile in which the encumbered property is located (Art. 562 CPCM).

Domestic arbitral awards, on the other hand, do not need to be recognized. They are enforced directly by the first instance court of the domicile of the award-debtor, or if the award-debtor does not reside in El Salvador, of the domicile in which the encumbered property is located (Arts. 554 and 562 CPCM).

The applicant must file a petition to the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador requesting the recognition of the foreign arbitral award or exequatur. Said petition must be in compliance with the formal requirements set out in the 1958 New York Convention, or the Panama Convention if applicable (Arts. 334, 556 and 558 CPCM).

Once the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador has ruled in favour of the recognition of the foreign arbitral award, the interested party must file a petition to the competent court requesting its enforcement (Art. 570 CPCM).

To enforce a domestic arbitral award, the interested party must file a petition to the competent court. The proceedings are the same as for the enforcement of a recognized foreign award (Arts. 554 and 570 CPCM).

For the recognition of foreign arbitral awards or exequatur, the award-creditor must prove that the domicile of the award-debtor or the location of the debtors’ assets are in the territory of El Salvador (Arts. 28 and 557 CPCM).

For the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, the requesting party must prove that the domicile of the award-debtor or the location of the debtors’ assets are within the jurisdiction of the first instance court where such enforcement is being requested (Art. 562 CPCM).

For domestic arbitral awards, the court that would have had jurisdiction over the dispute in the absence of an arbitration agreement will be the one with jurisdiction over the enforcement proceedings (Art. 561 CPCM).

In El Salvador, courts do not charge fees for applications for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, or the enforcement of domestic awards (Art. 16 CPCM).

Each party must bear its own costs for the application for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, as well as for the application for the enforcement of domestic awards (Art. 569 CPCM).

In El Salvador, the proceedings for the recognition of foreign arbitral awards or exequatur are adversarial. The award-debtor will be notified by the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador and can file its statement of defense or opposition.

The proceedings for the enforcement of foreign and domestic arbitral awards, on the other hand, are ex parte. The court will render a decision in respect of the enforcement before it notifies the award-debtor about the existence of the enforcement proceeding. The award-debtor may challenge the enforcement afterwards and only on the basis of limited grounds such as the expiration of the statute of limitation, lack of jurisdiction, lack of any formal requirements of the award, lack of legal standing, proof that the debt has been paid already or any prior settlement of the parties (Arts. 579 and 583 CPCM).

The request for the recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award must be filed alongside the original award and the original arbitration agreement, or a duly authenticated copy of said documents, according to the standard set out in the 1958 New York Convention (Arts. 82 LMCA and 334 CPCM). In case of domestic arbitral awards, a copy of the original award will be sufficient to initiate the enforcement proceedings, but courts will also require the filing of the arbitration agreement (Art. 570 CPCM).

In case the foreign or domestic arbitral award or the arbitration agreement are not drafted in Spanish, the award-creditor must provide a translation certified by a public notary authorized in El Salvador. This must be filed alongside with the request for recognition and enforcement of said arbitral award (Arts. 81 LMCA and 148 CPCM).

The award-creditor must be represented by an authorized attorney in El Salvador (Art. 67 CPCM). Attorneys admitted in foreign jurisdictions hence are not permitted to represent parties in recognition and enforcement proceedings.

The Supreme Court of El Salvador has a notification platform through which all courts can affect necessary notifications and serve judicial documents. Attorneys may register their e-mails in the system and provide them to courts at the start or through the course of any proceeding.

If a court needs to make notifications or deliver documents to any party, a court official will send them through said electronic notification platform, to the registered email provided by the attorneys of the parties. If no registered e-mail is provided, or whenever the court deems appropriate, the notification and delivery of documents can also be made by a court official at the physical address of the party concerned. Said notifications and documents must be served personally to the person concerned, or in case of a company, to the legal representative, manager, or any other person with sufficient authority.

If the relevant party is outside the territory of El Salvador, local courts can request the assistance of foreign courts to carry out the service of judicial documents (Arts. 149 and 191 CPCM).  There is no specific regulation in respect of service of extrajudicial documents.

By contrast to foreign awards, domestic awards do not need to be recognized by the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court. Other than that, there is no difference in respect of the enforcement of domestic and foreign arbitral awards (Art. 83 LMCA).

Salvadorean law does not recognize the existence of partial or interim arbitral awards and courts are unlikely to recognize and enforce them. Foreign arbitral awards can only be recognized and enforced when they are final in the sense of marking the end of the arbitration proceedings. (Arts. 79 LMCA, as well as 554 and 555 CPCM).  In the same vein, domestic arbitral awards can only be enforced when they are final (Art. 60 LMCA).

The grounds on which recognition can be refused by the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador are the same ones as those set out in Article V of the 1958 New York Convention. These grounds for refusal apply exclusively to foreign arbitral awards.

In the case of domestic awards, given that they do not need to be recognized, the award-debtor may only challenge the enforcement on the basis of limited grounds such as the expiration of the statute of limitation, lack of jurisdiction, lack of any formal requirements of the award, lack of legal standing, proof that the debt has been paid already or there was prior settlement between the parties (Arts. 579 and 583 CPCM).

For a public policy violation defense to prevail, the party relying on this defense must demonstrate that the conditions for the harmonic and correct functioning of the rule of law in the State are being violated. It must also demonstrate that certain limits that the legal system imposes to individual rights and freedoms are being violated. Hence, the threshold is very high and the Salvadorean jurisdictions adopts a restrictive interpretation of public policy.

Once the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of El Salvador issues a ruling in respect of the recognition of a foreign arbitral award, the enforcement procedure should be carried out by the first instance court of the domicile of the award-debtor, or if the party does not reside in El Salvador, of the domicile in which the encumbered property is located. To that end, the award-creditor must file an application for enforcement of the recognized award. Thus, the award is not immediately enforceable since additional steps need to be taken.

Similarly, domestic awards are not immediately enforceable since an application for their enforcement must be filed to the competent court.

There is no remedy available against the decision recognizing a foreign arbitral award (Art. 558 CPCM). Domestic arbitral awards do not need to be recognized, so no remedy exists in this case.

There is no remedy available against the decision refusing to recognize a foreign arbitral award (Art. 558 CPCM). Domestic arbitral awards do not need to be recognized, so no remedy exists in this case.

In El Salvador, it is not possible to file a set-off claim as a defense to the enforcement of a foreign or domestic arbitral awards. The award-debtor may only challenge the enforcement on the basis of limited grounds such as the expiration of the statute of limitation, lack of jurisdiction, lack of any formal requirements of the award, lack of legal standing, proof that the debt has been paid already or any prior settlement of the parties (Arts. 579 and 583 CPCM).

According to the standard set out in the 1958 New York Convention or the Panama Convention if applicable, awards that have been set aside in the seat of arbitration cannot be recognized and enforced in El Salvador (Art. 82 LMCA). If it was a partial setting aside, then the applicant can request the recognition and enforcement of the part of the award that remained in force.

Interim measures against assets are possible in El Salvador (Art. 436 and 438 CPCM). The law provides an extensive list of possible interim measures and also states that the parties may request any other measure that they consider necessary to guarantee the final ruling or award.

Among the possible interim measures that can be adopted are the encumberment of assets (such as salaries, bank accounts, financial securities, interest rates, real estate, movable assets), the temporary management of companies, orders from the court for a party to terminate a certain activity, and any other measure that the court considers appropriate.

No possibility of obtaining security for costs is provided during the recognition and enforcement procedures.