S.L. 387.1 Art. 55Copyofdocuments to be served on respondent.

(1) On receipt of an application with all the attachments stated in the preceding rule, the Registrar shall serve the respondent with a copy of all the documents received and the respondent shall have ten working days to state in writing whether there are any reasons why the Registrar should not proceed with the registration of the award.

(2) If the respondent is not resident or otherwise present in Malta, the Registrar shall notify the person indicated by the applicant as being a representative or having a connection with the respondent or his property in Malta or such other person as the Registrar may establish as having representation of the respondent upon directly communicating with such respondent by any means available to him. The person who receives the documents is to be advised in writing by the Registrar that -

(a) if he is the representative of the respondent, he should respond to the application within ten working days;

(b) if he is not the representative of the respondent -

(i) he is to communicate the documents to the respondent as soon as possible (not later than five days from receipt) and take instructions from him as to the request for registration of the award and inform the Registrar in writing of the date on which he sent the documents to the respondent, the manner of communication and the address, fax numbers or electronic address at which they were sent; or

(ii) he is to advise the Registrar within five working days that he does not represent the respondent and has no means of communicating with him and to provide all available information about his connection or otherwise with the respondent while returning to the Registrar all the documents served upon him.

(3) In the cases referred to in sub-rule (2)(b)(i) the time for the respondent to reply to the application shall start to run after the lapse of five days from the date on which the person served sends the documents to the respondent[ provided that the Centre may determine a later date on which the documents were effectively received by the respondent.

(4) In the cases referred to in sub-rule (2)(b)(ii) or in case no response is received, in which case it is to be presumed that the recipient is not the representative of the respondent, the Registrar shall advise the applicant of the response (or lack of it) and the applicant shall be entitled to request the court to nominate and appoint, at his cost, a curator ad litem for the respondent for the purposes of these rules and such curator shall henceforth be deemed to be the lawful representative of the respondent in Malta for the purpose of the registration of the foreign award and all subsequent and related acts, including those relating to enforcement of the award. The applicant shall send certified copies of all proceedings and any court orders to the Centre without making it a party.

(5) In appointing a curator ad litem for the purposes of the preceding rules, the court shall select a person from the panels of domestic arbitrators maintained by the Centre, a copy of which shall be presented to the court together with the applications made to the Centre referred to above.

(6) It shall be lawful for the respondent to assume his own representation at any time, directly or through an attorney appointed in writing, by means of a notice to that effect served on the curator ad litem and the Centre. In such cases the respondent shall be responsible for the fees and expenses of the curator ad until such time. litem

(7) The curator shall be entitled to an hourly fee of ad litem fifty-eight euro and twenty-three cents (58.23) for services rendered. The Registrar of the Centre shall determine in a final manner the fees of the curator if requested to do so. ad litem