Pursuant to Article 333 of the Civil Procedure Code of Iran, parties to litigation may, by written agreement, waive their right to appeal against a judgment rendered by a court of justice. By contrast, Iranian arbitration laws do not expressly address the possibility of waiving the right to challenge an arbitral award, although parties may wish to do so. This article examines whether parties to arbitration may validly waive their right to challenge an arbitral award, either in whole or in part with respect to the grounds enumerated in Article 489 of the Iranian Domestic Arbitration Law or Article 33 of the International Commercial Arbitration Law. It further analyzes the timing, manner, and legal effects of such waiver.
The findings of the study demonstrate that, by analogy with court judgments, two opposing but well-reasoned positions—affirmative and negative—may be advanced regarding the admissibility of waiving the right to challenge arbitral awards. Emphasizing party autonomy and the consensual nature of arbitration, and with a view to promoting and strengthening the arbitral process, the authors contend that it is appropriate to permit waiver with respect to certain grounds for annulment, while excluding such possibility in relation to others. The right to challenge an arbitral award may be waived through the arbitration agreement and prior to the expiration of the statutory time limit for challenge. Such waiver bars subsequent applications for annulment of the award, without precluding the statutory right to object to its enforcement.