"Enforceability annotation" of arbitral awards in Turkey now made through the UYAP system

After the application made by the Istanbul Arbitration Centre (ISTAC) to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey, it is now possible to request an enforceability annotation through UYAP (the National Judiciary Informatics System) for arbitral awards rendered in arbitration cases within the scope of the International Arbitration Act No. 4686 (IAA).

Being the primary set of rules applicable to arbitration proceedings in Turkey, the IAA applies to disputes that have a foreign element where the place of arbitration is determined to be in Turkey or to disputes where the IAA is chosen as the governing law of arbitration by arbitrating parties or their sole arbitrator or arbitral tribunal. In accordance with Article 15/B of the IAA, arbitrating parties must request that the civil court of first instance issue a document stating that the arbitral award can be executed in order for the enforcement of an arbitral award in Turkey.

The most significant advantage of national arbitration is that arbitral awards are enforceable in Turkey as judgments rendered by Turkish courts. However, the application process for a document stating the enforceability of an arbitral award from the civil court of first instance has been a challenging issue in practice and has overshadowed this advantage.

In this context, the ISTAC applied to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Turkey, and based on this application, a new tab entitled as "Document Submission for the Enforceability of the Arbitral Award" has been added under UYAP’s section for "Arbitration (Non-Commercial) Related Requests" for the ease of enforcement of arbitral awards rendered in arbitration cases with foreign elements in Turkey.

With this development, the application for enforceability through UYAP should accelerate and ease the enforcement of arbitral awards rendered in arbitration cases with foreign elements in Turkey. As a result, arbitration is expected to be preferred over litigation especially in sector-specific cases with foreign elements in Turkey since arbitral awards should come in a shorter period of time and in a more effective manner.

For more information on the enforcement of arbitral awards in Turkey, contact your CMS client partner or local CMS experts: Alican Babalioglu <alican.babalioglu@ybk-av.com>, Damla Erensoy <damla.erensoy@ybk-av.com> and Melis Celik <melis.celik@ybk-av.com>.