Domestic Courts Declining to Recognize and Enforce Foreign Arbitral Awards: A Comparative Reflection

This article examines the “public policy exception” by which domestic judges decline to recognize and enforce international arbitration awards, primarily under Article V (2) (b) of the New York Convention (1958). It explores litigation in China and New York, to identify reasons invoked by domestic courts to decline to enforce foreign arbitration awards on localized public policy grounds. It also examines due process grounds invoked by a Dutch court in refusing to enforce Russian judicial decisions annulling arbitration awards. The article considers the difficulties faced by domestic courts in delineating the concept of substantive and procedural justice clearly and reliably. It concludes by examining how states and their courts can develop shared conceptions of substantive and procedural due process that transcend national boundaries.