Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently handed down the first appellate decision enforcing an arbitral award under the Inter-American Convention for International Commercial Arbitration (Inter-American Convention).1 The Second Circuit's opinion in Productos Mercantiles e Industriales, S.A. v. Faberge USA Inc. answers a number of important questions about the scope and application of that Convention. 2

The opinion also sheds light on the related Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, known as the New York Convention, on which the Inter-American Convention was modelled. 3 Of wider significance, the court's decision clarifies the procedures for enforcing an arbitral award against a nonparty to an arbitration.