Enforcement in Indonesia: Obtaining a Power of Attorney for Registration of the Award

Indonesia is forecast to become one of the world’s top ten economies by 2030, which will lead to an increase in arbitrations with an Indonesian element. Sophisticated commercial parties and arbitration specialists alike are often unaware of a peculiarity of Indonesian arbitration law which requires that the arbitral tribunal must apply for, and obtain, registration of an arbitral award with the Indonesian courts before the award can be enforced. If a tribunal is not aware of this peculiarity, and becomes functus officio without having obtained registration, the parties risk having an award that cannot be enforced in Indonesia. In this article, we examine the registration requirement and set out steps that an arbitral tribunal must take in order to register an award with the Indonesian courts. We then consider the circumstances in which a tribunal can satisfy the registration requirement by providing parties’ counsel with a Power of Attorney, so that they can register the award on its behalf. We analyse some of the key features that the Power of Attorney should have, as well as the pitfalls parties should be aware of, drawing on aspects of Indonesian law as well as our practical experience. Indonesia, registration, power of attorney, proxy, mandate, mandator, mandatory, tribunal, legalization, notarization