By virtue of the principle of contractual liberty, a foreign law may be chosen as the applicable legislation to any contract, so long as it does not contradict public order laws, as they cannot be waived by private contracts. A foreigner who raises a complaint before Dominican courts may be ordered by a judge, as per the request of a local counterpart, to supply a “judicatum solvi” bond as guarantee for the payment of the costs or indemni- fications that may result in the legal process. This bond can be ordered when the foreigner does not have a legal domicile in the country. As there is no specific legal disposition to limit the amount of the bond, the Do- minican counterpart sometimes asks for exaggerated amounts as a way of delaying the course of a lawsuit. The Dominican party may waive the right to request bond in case of litigation in any private document before such litigation arises. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is important to note the legality of litigation bonds imposed on foreign individuals may always be questioned, because it limits the right of every individual, for- eign or national, to access the courts and obtain legal protection. Private documents issued or executed abroad, to be admissible in a local court or governmental agency must be notarized and authenticated by the corresponding agencies in their country of origin and in the Dominican Republic. In addition, documents that are not in Spanish must be translated by an official translator or a sim- ilar officer in the country of origin. Documents executed in certain countries that are party to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961 are suf- ficient if they are annotated according to the terms of the Apostille Convention.
ARBITRATION Persons or enterprises may opt to resolve their commercial conflicts outside the judicial courts, submitting their claims to conciliation, or local or international arbitration. This is possible when the litigation does not refer to public order laws, in which case the court is the mandatory venue. In October 2001, the Dominican Republic became a member of the Convention on the Recognition and En- forcement of Foreign Arbitral Decrees (the New York Convention). It also is party to the Inter-American Con- vention on International Commercial Arbitration (the Panama Convention). Hence, the execution of foreign arbitral decrees must be ordered by a local court, based on the provisions of international conventions and local laws on the matter.