Recent Enforcement Problems under the New York and ICSID Conventions

Abstract

the effectiveness of international arbitration depends ultimately on the question whether the arbitral award can be enforced against the losing party. That is not to say that most arbitrations lead to enforcement proceedings before the courts of some State. Quite the contrary, arbitral awards are complied with voluntarily in a large number of cases. But this large degree of voluntary compliance is, for a significant part, probably due to the fact that effective international enforcement measures are generally available to the winning party. Enforcement of awards resulting from international arbitration in general is now basically assured in more than 82 States that are Party to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention).1 Enforcement of awards resulting from international arbitration in the specific field of investments is especially catered for in the Washington Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes (the ICSID Convention).2