International Public Policy and Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in Brazil

Abstract

This article considers if and how Brazilian courts have applied the international public policy exception when deciding whether to recognize and enforce foreign arbitral awards. In Brazil, like other jurisdictions, according to Article V(2)(b) of the NewYork Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the 'New York Convention'), when a court is faced with a challenge, it has to determine if the public policy exception refers to its national public policy or international public policy. In the past ten years, arbitration in Brazil has gained prominence and the number of challenges to awards, both national and international, has generated several decisions on how Brazilian courts interpret the public policy exemption. This article presents the Brazilian and the international view of what the international public policy is, as well as how the Brazilian and the international view is expressed in their jurisprudence on the topic in order to demonstrate and compare the direction being taken on the public policy exception by Brazilian courts.