do business in the Dominican Republic - Pellerano & Herrera

DOING BUSINESS INTHE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC1. Nullity of arbitration agreement,2. Infringement of the right of defense,3. Abuse of attributions in relation to the scope of the arbitration agreement,4. Composition of the arbitral authority or the procedure in a manner differentthan the agreement of the parties,5. Arbitral award not yet final, or6. When the subject matter of the difference may not be submitted to arbitrationunder Dominican laws.Another important corollary of the ratification of the convention is the reaffirmationand reinforcement of the right to submit private disputes to arbitration.In the Dominican Republic, although this has always been a valid option of theparties under the principle of contractual freedom, the lack of specific mandatoryreferral provisions posed certain obstacles to the enforcement of arbitrationclauses with Domestic courts. Now it is clear that Dominican courts must refermatters submitted to them to the arbitration court elected by the parties wheneverthere exists a valid arbitration clause and the subject matter of the case doesnot refer to public order laws, which as explained above, may not be submittedto arbitration.Finally, it should also be noted that the application of the Convention has significantimplications for the international recognition of local arbitral awards,whichmay thus be more easily enforced in other countries that are also ContractingStates of the Convention.140