Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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Some time after this article  was written, the French Cour de Cassation decided the Putrabali case.  It affirmed a lower French court’s judgment granting recognition of an award notwithstanding its having been annulled in the place of arbitration. It ruled that an international arbitral award is not anchored in any national legal order, and that the effect of its annulment must be determined by the law of the country in which recognition is sought.  The decision has generally been hailed by the commentators,  but, upon proper analysis, appears less than commendable.

In the Putrabali case, an arbitration conducted in London between an Indonesian claimant and a French respondent resulted in an award in favor of the respondent. Putrabali, the Indonesian claimant, appealed to the London High Court on issues of law. The London court vacated the award and remanded the case to the arbitral tribunal, which rendered a second award replacing the first and ruling in favor of Putrabali.  The French respondent then sought recognition of the first award in the French courts.  The latter ruled, in three instances, in favor of the French respondent. 

In my judgment, the Cour de Cassation should have applied a simple analysis in reaching a solution defined exclusively by reference to the New York Convention....