New York Convention

Reinmar Wolff, Christian Borris

In a world characterised on the one hand by globalised trade and commerce, and on the other by deteriorating judicial services, arbitration has become the dispute resolution mechanism of choice in cross-border commercial transactions. International arbitration not only paves the way for parties to avoid state courts, it also facilitates the transnational enforceability of awards that are far more effective than the enforceability of state court judgments. The major instrument is the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention) of 10 June 1958, which entered into force one year after. Since then the New York Convention has been ratified by 144 states, including all the important trading nations. For good reason the New York Convention is labelled the Magna Carta of international arbitration. The courts of any contracting state are...