The Portugal chapter of the GAR Know-How: Challenging and Enforcing Arbitration Awards guide provides a structured overview of the Portuguese regime applicable to the challenge, recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards, covering the formal requirements for awards, mechanisms for correction and clarification, the rules on annulment and the framework applicable to the enforcement of domestic and foreign awards. The Portuguese contribution was prepared by Filipa Cotta, Ricardo Campos, Rita Espírito Santo and Gonçalo Jardim.
Our team explains that, under the Portuguese Voluntary Arbitration Law, an arbitral award must be in writing, signed by the arbitrators, dated, indicate the place of arbitration, state the reasons on which it is based — unless the parties have waived this requirement or the decision is based on an agreement — and include a decision on costs. The guide also addresses the possibility of correcting, clarifying or supplementing the award, namely in cases of material errors, obscurities, ambiguities or failure to decide on part of the claims submitted to the arbitral tribunal.
Filipa Cotta, Ricardo Campos, Rita Espírito Santo and Gonçalo Jardim also highlight the regime for challenging arbitral awards in Portugal. As a rule, appeals are not permitted, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise and provided that the dispute was not decided according to equity, with an exception for certain disputes relating to public contracts. Annulment, in turn, may be requested before the state courts, but only on the basis of procedural defects, invalidity of the arbitration agreement, excess of jurisdiction, failure to comply with formal requirements, non-arbitrability of the subject matter or breach of the international public policy of the Portuguese state.
As regards annulment proceedings, the chapter notes that the application must be filed within 60 days of notification of the award, with jurisdiction lying with the Court of Appeal of the district in which the seat of the arbitration is located. Portuguese courts do not reassess the merits of the case, nor do they re-examine the facts or the applicable law decided by the arbitral tribunal; if the award is annulled, the dispute may be submitted to a new arbitral tribunal for a decision on the merits.
From an international perspective, the guide analyses the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, within the framework of the Portuguese Voluntary Arbitration Law, the 1958 New York Convention and other applicable international instruments. Portugal is a party to the New York Convention, which has been in force in the country since 16 January 1995, with a reciprocity reservation, and is also a party to the ICSID Convention, which is relevant to the enforcement of decisions in investment matters.
Finally, the chapter developed by our team details the main practical aspects of recognition and enforcement proceedings, including the competent courts, the necessary documentation, the requirement for translations into Portuguese, the adversarial nature of the proceedings and the grounds that may justify refusal of recognition. The guide underlines that Portuguese courts recognise and enforce partial and interim awards, provided that the applicable legal requirements are met, offering a practical and comprehensive analysis of the treatment of arbitral awards in Portugal.
17 July, 2026
