Foreign award costs of reference may be enforced once taxed, where entitlement was expressly reserved in the award.

A foreign award that expressly allocates costs of reference to arbitration, with quantification left to agreement or taxation, may still be enforced under the Foreign Awards (Recognition and Enforcement) Act, 1961. Where the entitlement to costs is clear and only the amount is subsequently settled by taxation, the court must construe the award according to its true terms and give effect to the taxed amount. The fact that quantification occurred after the award proceedings had begun does not defeat enforcement. Taxed and certified costs of reference were therefore payable and were added to the decree under the award.

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Issues: Whether costs of reference to arbitration, which were awarded subject to taxation on disagreement and were quantified after the award, could be enforced in proceedings for a foreign award under section 6 of the Foreign Awards (Recognition and Enforcement) Act, 1961.

Analysis: Section 6 obliges the court, once satisfied that a foreign award is enforceable, to order the award to be filed and to pronounce judgment according to the award, after which a decree follows. The award in question expressly provided that the charterers were to bear and pay the owners' costs of the reference, with the amount to be settled by agreement and, failing agreement, by taxation. The decree already passed in terms of the award did not quantify those costs, but the taxing process was completed and a certificate was produced before the appellate court. The award was not ambiguous on the entitlement to costs; it had specifically reserved only the quantification mechanism. In such a case, the court is required to give effect to the award as properly construed and cannot refuse enforcement merely because the quantified amount was obtained after the initial filing.

Conclusion: The costs of reference, once taxed and certified, were payable by the respondent and could be enforced under the award.

Final Conclusion: The decree under the foreign award was modified to include the taxed costs of reference, and the appeal succeeded to that extent.

Ratio Decidendi: A foreign award must be enforced according to its true construction, and where it expressly awards costs of reference subject to agreement or taxation, the court may enforce the taxed amount even if quantification occurs after the award proceedings have begun.

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