Review of Substantive Reasoning of International Arbitral Awards by National Courts: Ensuring One-Stop Adjudication

摘要

An arbitral award should be drafted to meet the requirements of the law of the place of arbitration and those of the New York Convention. Article V of the Convention provides the grounds for refusing enforcement of arbitration. Those ground focus on jurisdiction, procedure and public policy. The basic principle is that the jurisdictional and procedural reasoning of an arbitral tribunal is subject to detailed review. Article V does not focus on the substantive reasoning regarding the merits, as one of the basic purposes was to avoid re-litigation of arbitral matters before the enforcing courts. As regards the substantive reasoning, under the New York Convention, there must be a public policy issue. The case law referred to supra, appears to show an evolution on annulment proceedings that corresponds to the approach of the New York Convention.