Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) in its judgment released on May 20, 2010, in Yugraneft Corp. v. Rexx Management Corp., 2010 SCC 19, [2010] 1 S.C.R. 649 upheld the Court of Appeal of Alberta’s decision that an arbitral award granted to a Russian company against an Alberta company was time-barred under the Alberta Limitations Act, which sets out a two-year the limitation period.

In its reasons, the SCC relied on Article III of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York, 1958) (“New York Convention”), which provides that recognition and enforcement shall be “in accordance with the rules of procedure of the territory where the award is relied upon”. In addition, SCC interpreted “the rules of procedure” under the Article III of the New York Convention as meaning “any limitation period that, under domestic law, is applicable to the recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award”.

The Ontario International Commercial Arbitration Act R.S.O. 1990, Ch. I .9 incorporates some, but not all, of the New York Convention and the entirety of UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (“Model Law”). The basic limitation period in Ontario is two years pursuant to the Ontario Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, Ch. 24, Sched. B.

Other Citation: Alberta Limitations Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. L-12

David Alderson, LL.B, LL.M (Lond.)

Masha Loftus, M.A., J.D

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