New York Convention On The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Arbitral Awards

Summary of New York Convention On The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Arbitral Awards

Enforcement Of Foreign Arbitral Awards. An international convention that emerged on June 10, 1958, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Commercial Arbitration. The convention establishes principles and procedures for the arbitration of international commercial disputes, and reinforces the position that signatory states are obliged to enforce arbitration awards granted under terms of the convention, excluding instances where irregularities are demonstrated to have affected the award. The convention is not applicable to domestic arbitration agreements. In those cases where a party to an arbitration agreement, or another party with an interest in the dispute, seeks relief through the courts of a signatory state, the courts shall stay any judicial remedies pending an outcome of the arbitration proceedings. The New York convention is not clear on which law shall be applied by the arbitrators. A presumption has arisen through usage that, in those cases where choice of law is not specified in the arbitration agreement, the law of the jurisdiction where the arbitration takes place (lex loci arbitri) shall apply.

The New York convention supersedes the Geneva Protocol on Arbitration Clauses (1923) and the Geneva Convention on the Execution of Foreign Arbitral Awards (1927) to the extent that the parties to the dispute are subject to the jurisdiction of states that have accepted the 1958 New York agreement.

The convention entered into force in the United States on February 1, 1971, and is given effect in Chapter 2 of the U.S. Arbitration Act, Title 9, U.S.C.

(Main Author: William J. Miller)