Iraq's Three Reservations to the New York Convention

By Othman Al-Juboori, Founder and Managing Director of Al-Taswia, Iraqi lawyer and expert in Iraqi labour law, Member of the Iraqi Bar Association.

Quick answer

Iraq acceded to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York, 1958) by Law No. 14 of 2021, and the Convention entered into force for Iraq on 9 February 2022. Iraq qualified its accession with three reservations: arbitral awards made before the law enters into force; reciprocity; and application only to differences arising from contractual legal relations considered commercial under Iraqi law. This article sets out the wording of each reservation and its published source, and what the Federal Court of Cassation has decided on the first.

1. Accession: dates and sources

Law No. 14 of 2021 on accession was published in the Iraqi Official Gazette (Al-Waqa'i Al-Iraqiya) No. 4633 on 31 May 2021 (Ministry of Justice website). Its Art. 2 provides: "This law shall take effect from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette."
The accession was effected on 11 November 2021.
The Convention entered into force for Iraq on 9 February 2022 under Art. XII(2): "For each State ratifying or acceding to this Convention after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification or accession, this Convention shall enter into force on the ninetieth day after deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification or accession".
The text of the reservations is also published in the UN Secretary-General's Depositary Notification C.N.371.2021.TREATIES-XXII.1 of 16 November 2021, which gives the reservations in English as a "translation" of the Arabic original.

2. The three reservations

Reservation	Wording in the accession law (Gazette No. 4633, Art. 1), as translated in the Depositary Notification	What Art. I(3) of the Convention allows
First	"the provisions of the Convention shall not be applicable to the Republic of Iraq with respect to arbitral awards made before the law enters into force"	No express counterpart in Art. I(3)
Second	"the Convention shall be applicable with respect to the recognition and enforcement of awards made in the territory of another Contracting State only on the basis of reciprocity"	A State may declare, on the basis of reciprocity, that it will apply the Convention to the recognition and enforcement of awards made only in the territory of another Contracting State
Third	"the Convention shall be applicable to the Republic of Iraq only with respect to differences arising from contractual legal relations which are considered commercial under Iraqi law"	A State may declare that it will apply the Convention only to differences arising out of legal relationships, whether contractual or not, that are considered commercial under the national law of the State making the declaration

The Arabic wording in the Gazette is the original of the reservations. The right-hand column describes the content of Art. I(3); the authentic texts of the Convention are its five equally authentic texts (Art. XVI), including the English text.

3. First reservation: awards made before the law enters into force

The text excludes awards "made before the law enters into force". The text does not name a specific date.
The accession law takes effect from its publication in the Official Gazette (Art. 2), and it was published in No. 4633 on 31 May 2021; the Convention entered into force for Iraq on 9 February 2022.
The Expanded Civil Panel of the Federal Court of Cassation decided this question in decision No. 263/Expanded Civil Panel/2025 of 23 November 2025 (Supreme Judicial Council website), concerning an award made on 3 September 2021 by an international arbitral tribunal in London, which the appeal court had recognised under the Convention. The decision states that the view that the law takes effect on its publication date rather than on 9 February 2022 is "misplaced", because Art. 1/First of the accession law provides that the Convention does not apply to Iraq in respect of foreign arbitral awards made before the law takes effect, because Art. XII(2) sets the mechanism for entry into force, and because Iraq deposited its instrument of accession on 11 November 2021, so that the Convention is in effect in Iraq from 9 February 2022. The Court concluded that the arbitrators' award of 3 September 2021 is "not covered by the New York Convention" and that "the arbitration provisions of the Civil Procedure Law, Arts. (251–276), are those that apply to the arbitral award", and it quashed the appeal judgment and remitted the case to its court.
Limit of this paragraph: the decision deals with the facts before it, and no rule beyond them should be drawn without reading its full text.

4. Second reservation: reciprocity

Art. I(3) allows a State, on the basis of reciprocity, to declare that it will apply the Convention to the recognition and enforcement of awards made only in the territory of another Contracting State. The text of the reservation in the accession law, in the translation of the Depositary Notification: "the Convention shall be applicable with respect to the recognition and enforcement of awards made in the territory of another Contracting State only on the basis of reciprocity".

5. Third reservation: contractual commercial disputes

Art. I(3) allows a State to limit application to differences arising out of legal relationships, whether contractual or not, that are considered commercial under its national law.
Iraq's reservation, in the accession law and in the Secretary-General's Notification, refers to "contractual" legal relations considered commercial under Iraqi law, without the words "whether contractual or not". The references are the accession law (Gazette No. 4633) and the Secretary-General's Notification.

6. After the reservations

In the decision above, the Federal Court of Cassation held that the arbitration provisions of the Civil Procedure Law (Arts. 251–276) apply to the award it considered outside the Convention. Among those provisions, an arbitrators' award is not enforced before the Execution Departments unless the court competent over the dispute ratifies it at the request of one of the parties and after payment of the prescribed fees (Art. 272(1) of the Civil Procedure Law).
Awards within the Convention are subject to its document requirements (Art. IV) and its grounds for refusal (Art. V). See Arbitration and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in Iraq.

FAQ

How many reservations did Iraq make to the New York Convention? Three, set out in Art. 1 of Law No. 14 of 2021 and in the UN Secretary-General's Depositary Notification C.N.371.2021.TREATIES-XXII.1.

When did the Convention enter into force for Iraq? On 9 February 2022, under Art. XII(2) of the Convention and the Secretary-General's Notification.

What is the effect of the Convention's entry into force on 9 February 2022 on an award made before that date? In decision No. 263/Expanded Civil Panel/2025 of 23 November 2025, the arbitrators' award of 3 September 2021 is "not covered by the New York Convention", and the arbitration provisions of the Civil Procedure Law (Arts. 251–276) apply to it.

What is the text of the third reservation? "the Convention shall be applicable to the Republic of Iraq only with respect to differences arising from contractual legal relations which are considered commercial under Iraqi law".

Where can the text of the reservations be consulted? In the Iraqi Official Gazette No. 4633 of 31 May 2021, and in the UN Secretary-General's Depositary Notification.

Sources: Law No. 14 of 2021 on the Accession of the Republic of Iraq to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York, 1958) (Iraqi Official Gazette No. 4633 of 31 May 2021, Iraqi Ministry of Justice website); UN Secretary-General's Depositary Notification C.N.371.2021.TREATIES-XXII.1 of 16 November 2021; Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, New York, 1958 (United Nations), Arts. I, IV, V, XII and XVI; decision of the Expanded Civil Panel of the Federal Court of Cassation No. 263/Expanded Civil Panel/2025 of 23 November 2025 (Supreme Judicial Council website); Civil Procedure Law No. 83 of 1969. This article is for general legal information.

Iraq's Three Reservations to the New York Arbitration Convention