- You are here:
- Home
- Court Decisions
- CANADA 43 A
CANADA 43 A
Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Commercial List, 10 November 2020, No. CV-20-00648370-00CL
(Sunlodges LTD et al. v. The United Republic of Tanzania)
CANADA 43 A
The Court ruled that Tanzania could not invoke sovereign immunity against the Mareva injunction sought while the application to enforce a Swedish award rendered under a BIT was pending, finding that by agreeing to the BIT Tanzania had consented to arbitration. Further, as the recognition and enforcement of the award was governed by the Ontario law enacting the New York Convention, Tanzania could not oppose to enforcement that the award had not been registered in Tanzania, as allegedly required by its domestic law. It was also irrelevant that Tanzania had not yet passed legislation implementing the Convention. In a later decision, The Court subsequently granted the undisputed application for recognition and enforcement of the award (CANADA 43 B).
The court discusses aspects relating to the implementation of the Convention in a Contracting State: the self-executing nature of the Convention v. the requirement of implementing legislation; the lack of implementing legislation; legislation that diverges from the text of the Convention or is defective under national law. Also, the domestic requirement that a State be included in an official list (“gazetted”) to ascertain reciprocity.