Pakistan ratifies New York Convention

Pakistan's ratification of the UN Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards on 14 July 2005 completes the growth of this multinational treaty in all major trading nations.

Adopted in 1958, this Convention, more commonly known as the New York Convention, was a landmark in international arbitration and owes much to the work and inspiration of ICC during the preceding years. Pakistan was one of the initial signatories. Its long-awaited ratification is the result of a legislative process in which His Excellency Syed Sharif Uddin Pirzada, Senior Advisor to the President of Pakistan and member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and the ICC national committee in Pakistan played an important role.

The New York Convention obliges national courts (i) to refer parties to arbitration if requested to do so when seized of a matter covered by an arbitration agreement and (ii) to enforce awards made in other States.

According to the Ordinance incorporating the New York Convention into Pakistani law, awards made in other New York Convention Contracting States must be enforced in the same manner as a judgment or order of a court in Pakistan. Enforcement may be refused only on the limited grounds mentioned in Article V of the Convention.

The text of the New York Convention and a full list of Contracting States are available on the web site of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) - www.uncitral.org