Reconsidering a Court of International Arbitration - Chapter 9 - AAA/ICDR Handbook on International Arbitration Practice
Conrad K. Harper is Of Counsel at the law firm of Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett in New York, New York and former legal adviser of the U.S. Department of State. He received a B.A. from Howard University and a LL.B. from Harvard University.
Originally from AAA/ICDR Handbook on International Arbitration Practice
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Because of the discretion granted to national courts under Article V of the New York Convention, they are able to refuse enforcement to arbitral awards for a number of reasons. Some of the exceptions to enforcement under Article V are quite broad and easily open to multiple interpretations. For example, recognition or enforcement may be refused where a party is judged to have been “unable to present his case” (Article V(1)(b)), where another national court (often in the home country of the opposing party) has set aside or suspended the award (Article V(1)(e)), and perhaps broadest of all, when the enforcement of the award would be contrary to the public policy of the country determining enforcement (Article V(2)(b)). These provisions were meant to be applied narrowly, but their literal wording gives national courts broad latitude to refuse to enforce arbitral awards against their own nationals.1
Although there is recent evidence that awards issued in arbitration proceedings under the auspices of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), even those against Chinese nationals, are being enforced in China, there is other evidence pointing to the difficulty of enforcing arbitral awards against Chinese companies.