Peremptory orders: enforcement by the court

Sections 40 to 42 of the Arbitration Act 1996 establish a procedure whereby orders made by the tribunal that are not adhered to can be enforced by court order. The tribunal may make an order and, if it is not complied with, the order may be made peremptory. Continuing failure to adhere to the order can then result in an application to the court for enforcement, carrying the additional sanction of contempt of court for non-compliance.

In the close to 20 years since the procedure was introduced, there has been only a handful of enforcement applications. Pearl Petroleum Co Ltd and Others v The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq [2015] EWHC 3361 (Comm), the most recent, gave Burton J the opportunity to consider the principles applicable to enforcement orders, particularly where the order requires payment of money. The case was complicated by considerations of sovereign immunity, as provided for by the State Immunity Act 1978.