Islamic finance arbitration: enforceability under the New York Convention 1958 of arbitration awards made following a reference to the Shariah Advisory Council under the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009

This article analyses the enforceability of arbitration awards, rendered following a reference to the Shariah Advisory Council of the Central Bank of Malaysia under sections 56 and 57 of the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009, under the New York Convention 1958 which has been adopted in 159 countries. This article employs the theoretical legal research method and has compared sections 56 and 57 against the requirements of the Convention for enforceability of awards, in particular the fundamental attributes of an arbitration. The conclusion is that such awards would not be enforceable under the Convention as they infringe Article V(1)(d) of the Convention. This would cause such awards to lose the feature of global and convenient enforceability usually attached to arbitration awards. These consequences make it less attractive, where there is an arbitration clause in the Islamic financial transaction documentation, to choose the Malaysian law as the governing law whether with regard to the substantive merits or the arbitration proceedings. This article recommends that amendments be made to sections 56 and 57 to make the reference to the Shariah Advisory Council optional rather than mandatory and its ruling advisory instead of binding, in respect of arbitration only, so that the global enforceability of such arbitration awards under the Convention is not undermined.