The tribunal makes and delivers the award

The arbitral tribunal issues a written award signed by the arbitrator or the majority, stating its date and the place of arbitration, which is where the award is deemed to be made. Under section 38(5) a signed copy must be delivered to each party, and that delivery starts the clock for any challenge. Unless the parties agreed otherwise, a money award carries interest from the date of the award until payment at two per cent above the Bangladesh Bank rate.

Section 39 makes the award final and binding on the parties and anyone claiming through them, subject only to a challenge under the Act.

Where: Arbitral tribunal · Time: Award date · Law: s.38 Arbitration Act 2001; s.39 Arbitration Act 2001 · Documents: Signed arbitral award, Proof of delivery of the signed copy

Tip: Keep proof of the exact date each side received the signed award. Every later deadline turns on it.

Correction or interpretation of the award

Within fourteen days of receiving the award, unless the parties agreed another period, either party may ask the tribunal, with notice to the other side, to correct computation, clerical or typographical errors or to give an interpretation of a specific point. If the tribunal agrees, it makes the correction within fourteen days of the request, and the tribunal can also correct such errors on its own within fourteen days of the award. Any correction or interpretation becomes part of the award.

This is not a route to reargue the merits, and it should not be used to delay enforcement.

Where: Arbitral tribunal · Time: Up to about 4 weeks · Law: s.40 Arbitration Act 2001 · Documents: Written request for correction, Corrected award or interpretation

Classify the award and map the forum

Arbitration award enforcement in Bangladesh depends first on what kind of award it is. A domestic award, made in Bangladesh between Bangladeshi parties, is challenged and enforced before the District Judge. An international commercial arbitration, where at least one party is foreign under section 2(c), seated in Bangladesh, is challenged in the High Court Division but enforced through the District Judge's Court. A foreign award, made abroad, cannot be set aside here at all and is enforced by the District Judge in Dhaka under section 45.

The lawyer also locates the award-debtor's assets and considers interim protection.

Where: Award-holder's lawyer · Time: 1-2 weeks · Law: s.2(b), (c) and (k) Arbitration Act 2001; s.3 Arbitration Act 2001 · Documents: Arbitration agreement, Award, Corporate details of both parties, Asset information

Award-debtor files to set the award aside

An award-debtor who wants to challenge a domestic award must apply to the District Judge within sixty days of receiving the award under section 42(1). For an international commercial arbitration held in Bangladesh, the application goes to the High Court Division under section 42(2) within the same sixty days. In Lily Begum Ahmed v Navana Real Estate (2025) the High Court Division held that the Act is a self-contained code, that section 5 of the Limitation Act does not apply, and that a District Judge cannot condone delay.

A late or wrongly filed application therefore loses the challenge entirely.

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: Within 60 days of receiving the award · Law: s.42(1) and (2) Arbitration Act 2001; Civil Revision No. 4283 of 2024 (HCD, 11.08.2025) · Documents: Application under ss.42-43, Copy of the award, Arbitration agreement, Proof of date of receipt

Tip: Filing in the wrong forum is fatal in practice, because the sixty days cannot be extended to refile.

Deposit or security pending the challenge

Once a set-aside application is filed, the award-holder can ask the court to order that any money payable under the award be deposited in court or otherwise secured until the application is decided. Section 43(2) gives this power to the District Judge and, for international commercial arbitration, to the High Court Division. A deposit order protects the award-holder against assets being moved during the challenge and discourages applications filed only to buy time. The court decides the amount and form, such as cash, a bank guarantee or a charge over property.

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: 1-3 months · Law: s.43(2) Arbitration Act 2001; s.7A Arbitration Act 2001 · Documents: Application for deposit or security, Evidence of risk of dissipation

Hearing on the statutory grounds

The court can set aside the award only on the closed list in section 43. The applicant must prove incapacity, an invalid agreement, lack of proper notice or inability to present its case, excess of the submission, or an irregular tribunal or procedure. The court may also act if the dispute is not arbitrable, the award is prima facie opposed to Bangladeshi law, conflicts with public policy, or was induced by fraud or corruption.

In Saudi Arabian Airlines Corporation v Saudi Bangladesh Services Company (2021) the Appellate Division held that section 43 is read strictly and that public policy covers patent illegality going to the root. The court does not reweigh evidence.

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: 6-18 months · Law: s.43(1) Arbitration Act 2001; Saudi Arabian Airlines Corporation v Saudi Bangladesh Services Company Ltd, 73 DLR (AD) 277 · Documents: Arbitral record, Written submissions, Affidavits on any procedural complaint

Decision on the challenge

The court either refuses the application, which clears the way for enforcement, or sets the award aside wholly or, where the bad part can be separated, only in part. Setting aside annuls the award but does not substitute the court's own decision on the dispute. Where an award is set aside, section 55(4) excludes the time between the start of the arbitration and the court's order when computing limitation, so the claim can be pursued again. The losing side on a District Judge's decision can appeal to the High Court Division under section 48(a).

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: Judgment day · Law: s.43(1)(a)(iv) proviso Arbitration Act 2001; s.48(a) Arbitration Act 2001; s.55(4) Arbitration Act 2001 · Documents: Judgment and order, Certified copy for any appeal

Execution application for a Bangladesh-seated award

Under section 44, once the sixty days have expired without a challenge, or a challenge has been refused, the award is enforced under the Code of Civil Procedure as if it were a decree of the court. The court for this purpose is the court within whose local limits the award was finally made and signed. The award-holder files an execution case before the District Judge's Court with the particulars required by Order XXI rule 11, attaching the award and proof that the challenge period has run or the challenge failed.

Enforcement cannot start while the sixty days are still running.

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: 1 day to file; 1-2 months to first order · Law: s.44 Arbitration Act 2001; Order XXI rules 10-11 CPC; s.55(1) Arbitration Act 2001 · Documents: Execution application under Order XXI rule 11, Original or certified award, Certificate or order showing no pending challenge, Vakalatnama

Tip: Confirm the applicable limitation period for execution early and do not let the award sit.

Application to enforce a foreign award

For an award made outside Bangladesh, the award-holder applies to the District Judge's Court in Dhaka, which section 45 names as the court for foreign awards. The application must attach the original award or a copy authenticated under the law of the country where it was made, the original or a certified copy of the arbitration agreement, and evidence that it is a foreign award. Documents not in Bangla must come with a certified English translation.

In South Express v Madina Enterprise (2026) the High Court Division confirmed that recognition and execution can proceed in a single execution case.

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: 1-2 months to first hearing · Law: s.45(1)(b), (2) and (3) Arbitration Act 2001; Arbitration Appeal No. 08 of 2025 (HCD, 09.07.2026) · Documents: Authenticated foreign award, Arbitration agreement, Evidence the award is foreign, Certified English translations

Objections to a foreign award

The award-debtor can resist a foreign award only on the grounds in section 46, which follow the New York Convention: incapacity, an invalid agreement, lack of notice or inability to present its case, excess of submission, an irregular tribunal or procedure, or that the award is not yet binding or has been set aside or suspended at the seat. The court may also refuse if the subject is not arbitrable in Bangladesh or enforcement would conflict with public policy. A Bangladeshi court cannot set a foreign award aside, and it must not reappraise the merits.

Annulment is for the courts of the seat.

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: 6-18 months · Law: s.46 Arbitration Act 2001; s.3(2) Arbitration Act 2001; Arbitration Appeal No. 08 of 2025 (HCD, 09.07.2026) · Documents: Written objection, Reply, Any foreign court orders on the award

Interim protection until enforcement

Section 7A lets the court, or the High Court Division in international commercial arbitration, make interim orders before or during the proceedings and until enforcement of the award under section 44 or 45. These include orders restraining a party from transferring property in a way that would defeat enforcement, interim custody or sale of goods, appointment of a receiver and ad interim injunctions. For an award-holder, an early restraint order over known bank accounts or land is often the single most valuable step, because execution itself moves slowly.

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: 2-8 weeks · Law: s.7A Arbitration Act 2001 · Documents: Application under s.7A, Affidavit on assets and risk, Draft order

Attachment of bank balances and receivables

Once execution is ordered, the executing court can attach money owed to the award-debtor. Bank balances, receivables from customers and shares are attached by a written prohibitory order under Order XXI rule 46, served on the bank or debtor, which must then hold the funds subject to the court's orders. Property in the custody of a court or public officer is attached by notice under rule 52. The award-debtor's officers can be examined about assets under rule 41. Bank attachment is usually the fastest path for arbitration award enforcement in Bangladesh against a trading company.

Where: Award-debtor's bank · Time: 1-3 months · Law: s.60 CPC; Order XXI rules 41, 46 and 52 CPC · Documents: Attachment order, Bank's statement of balances held, Application under Order XXI rule 41

Attachment and sale of other assets

If bank recovery is not enough, the executing court attaches immovable property under Order XXI rule 54 and movables by seizure, then sells them by public auction after a sale proclamation under rules 66 to 68. The buyer deposits twenty-five per cent at once and pays the balance within fifteen days. Third parties can raise claims under rule 58, and the award-debtor or others can challenge a sale under rules 89 and 90 within thirty days.

The ordinary execution rules apply in full, because section 44 and section 45 both send the award into the Code of Civil Procedure.

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: 6-18 months · Law: Order XXI rules 54, 58, 66-68, 84-94 CPC · Documents: Schedule of property, Sale proclamation, Sale certificate

Police help and other coercive steps

Where the award-debtor obstructs enforcement, the executing court can direct executive authorities, including law enforcement agencies, to assist a person it designates and report compliance under section 94A of the Code, inserted in 2026. For an unpaid money award against an individual, civil detention for up to six months is available under Order XXI rule 30A after a show-cause inquiry. Against a company, the usual coercive tools are attachment, examination of officers and, where the debt is undisputed, a winding-up petition, which is a separate proceeding in the High Court Division.

Where: District Judge's Court (or Commercial Court where one is set up) · Time: 1-6 months · Law: s.94A CPC; Order XXI rules 30A and 37 CPC; s.241 Companies Act 1994 · Documents: Order under s.94A CPC, Compliance report, Show-cause notice under Order XXI rule 37

Payment out and remittance

Money realised is paid into court and released to the award-holder after costs, and the execution case is closed when the award, interest and costs are satisfied. Where the award-debtor has paid and the award-holder is abroad and wants the proceeds remitted out of Bangladesh, the bank handling the payment applies the foreign exchange rules, and documentation such as the court order and tax clearances may be required. Check the current Bangladesh Bank requirements with the remitting bank before the money is released, so that funds are not held up after recovery.

Where: Award-debtor's bank · Time: 1-3 months · Law: Order XXI rules 1-2 CPC; s.73 CPC · Documents: Application for withdrawal, Satisfaction petition, Bank remittance documents