## Facts

- Navigation Maritime Bulgare (a Bulgarian shipping company) and P.T. Nizwar (an Indonesian company) entered a maritime transport contract containing a clause requiring arbitration in London before a sole arbitrator.
- A dispute arose under the contract and was submitted to arbitration in London.
- The sole arbitrator issued an award in favor of Navigation Maritime Bulgare, ordering P.T. Nizwar to pay monetary relief plus interest.
- P.T. Nizwar did not voluntarily comply with the award.
- Navigation Maritime Bulgare sought recognition and enforcement of the London award in the Central Jakarta District Court.
- The District Court granted enforcement and ordered P.T. Nizwar to satisfy the award.
- P.T. Nizwar sought cassation review in the Indonesian Supreme Court, which reversed and refused enforcement.

## Issues

1. Whether Indonesia’s ratification of the New York Convention by presidential decree, without implementing procedural regulations, permitted Indonesian courts to recognize and enforce a foreign arbitral award rendered in London.
2. Whether the absence of detailed domestic enforcement procedures for foreign arbitral awards was a sufficient basis to deny recognition and execution of an award otherwise falling within the Convention’s scope.

## Decision

- The Indonesian Supreme Court reversed the Central Jakarta District Court’s enforcement order.
- The Court refused recognition and enforcement of the London arbitral award.
- The Court reasoned that, despite ratification of the New York Convention, enforcement could not proceed because implementing regulations or a domestic procedural framework for executing foreign awards had not yet been enacted.

## Legal Principles

- Ratification of the New York Convention, standing alone, was treated as insufficient to authorize direct enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Indonesian courts absent implementing measures.
- Recognition and execution of a foreign arbitral award were viewed as dependent on a clear domestic procedural basis; in the absence of such rules, courts lacked authority to issue execution.
- The decision reflects a non-self-executing approach to treaty enforcement in domestic proceedings for foreign arbitral awards.

## Conclusion

The Indonesian Supreme Court refused to enforce a London arbitral award, holding that Indonesia’s Convention ratification did not supply an enforceable domestic mechanism without implementing regulations, and therefore reversing the lower court’s order granting execution.


Navigation Mar. Bulgare v. P.T. Nizwar, XI Y.B. Com. Arb. 508 (Indon. Sup. Ct. 1984)