The Principles and Practice of International Commercial Arbitration

Chapter 10 discusses some of the issues and procedures pertinent to recognition and enforcement of awards under international conventions and various national laws, as well as the limited grounds for refusing enforcement. In particular, the chapter focus on Article III of the New York Convention which requires countries to recognize foreign arbitral awards as binding and to enforce them in accordance with the provisions of the Convention. The chapter also notes that there are only a limited number of defenses against enforcement of an award under the Convention and that national courts construe such defenses narrowly. There are five kinds of defenses found in Article V(1) and two additional defenses found in Article V(2). The most important characteristic of the defenses is that they are not based on the merits. Under the Convention, a court cannot refuse enforcement of an award because the arbitrator got it wrong, either on the facts or the law. Instead, the defenses focus on the integrity of the process, fairness to the parties, and a reasonable opportunity to be heard.