ICC has published a comprehensive guide to national rules of procedure for enforcing awards to mark the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.

Better known as the New York Convention, this multilateral treaty is the cornerstone of international arbitration, having been ratified by no fewer than 144 states. The convention requires the courts of contracting states to withhold from deciding disputes covered by an arbitration agreement and to recognize and enforce awards made in other states unless there are specific grounds for not doing so.

Although the New York Convention has greatly facilitated the enforcement of awards internationally, it leaves broad scope for the application of national rules of procedure which vary between the numerous contracting states. The purpose of the new ICC publication is to offer a ready-reference guide on conditions for recognition and enforcement in different countries.

“This ambitious undertaking, which has drawn upon the expertise of arbitration specialists around the world, is the product of the work of a Task Force set up by the ICC Commission on Arbitration,” John Beechey, Chairman of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, explains in his foreword to the book.

A questionnaire was circulated amongst the task force members seeking information on national sources of law, courts to which applications for recognition and enforcement are to be made, statutes of limitation to which such applications may be subject, evidence to be produced, conditions under which enforcement may be stayed, the confidentiality of proceedings and other relevant requirements.

The answers to the questionnaire were compiled into a report of the ICC Commission on Arbitration, which also contains an overview highlighting points of practical interest and several tables summarizing and comparing data.

“It is fitting that the ICC launched this project given that the ICC International Court of Arbitration was the initiator and leader of the movement which led to the adoption of the New York Convention in 1958,” the introduction to the report states. The convention came into force in June 1959.

The report has been published as a Special Supplement to the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin and is available for purchase from the ICC Business Bookstore 

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