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Author	Prof Gary F Bell
Organisation/Institution	National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law
Country	SINGAPORE
Panel	International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
Title	Is Indonesia’s Arbitration Law in breach of the New York Convention?
Abstract	Indonesia is a Party to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York, 1958) ["New York Convention"] since 5 January 1982. Unfortunately, a frequent complain by foreigners trying to enforce foreign arbitral awards in Indonesia is that the process is unusually cumbersome. There are many requirements in Indonesian law that are not found in the laws of the vast majority of countries (if not all countries) that are Parties to the New York Convention. This paper will look at Law No. 30 of 1999 on Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution [“Arbitration Law”] as well as the more recent Supreme Court Regulation No. 3 of 2023 [“Regulation”] on the implementation of foreign arbitral awards in order to determine whether some provisions of the Arbitration Law and of the Regulation are inconsistent with the New York Convention i.e. whether Indonesia is in breach of its international law obligations under the New York Convention. For example, the requirement that the award must be submitted to the court for enforcement by the arbitrator (Arbitration Law art. 67(1), Regulation art. 7(1)) is inconsistent with Article IV(1) of the New York Convention which clearly states that it is the party seeking enforcement, not the arbitrator, who must be submitting the award to the court for enforcement. The chapter will also look at some other inconsistencies and suggest changes to the Arbitration Law and the Regulation so that Indonesia be no longer in breach of its international obligations.
Biography	Gary F. Bell is the Secretary-General of the International Academy of Comparative Law. B.Th., Laval; B.C.L. (civil law), LL.M. (common law), McGill; LL.M., Columbia. Was Editor in Chief of the McGill Law Journal. Clerked for Justice Stevenson, Supreme Court of Canada. Taught at McGill (1993-96) and teaches at National University of Singapore (NUS) since 1996. Founded and directed the Asian Law Institute (ASLI). Co-founded the Asian Journal of Comparative Law (AsJCL). At NUS, he founded the LL.M. in Asian Legal Studies and the LL.M. in International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution. Has been a member of the Executive Committee of the American Society of Comparative Law. Member of the Executive Editorial Board of the American Journal of Comparative Law and of the Board of the Indonesian Law Review. Conducts research and teaches on Indonesian law, international commercial arbitration, and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). Has taught as a visitor at a number of universities including at the University of Tokyo, the University of Hong Kong, University of Indonesia, Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas (Paris 2), and McGill University. He also practices as an international commercial arbitrator.