Author: Rostyslav I. Shiller*
Published: July 2007
| Jurisdiction: United States |
Topics: Commercial Disputes Enforceability of Arbitration Agreements New York Convention |
Description:
I. INTRODUCTION
Today the globalization of world economies has caused the expansion of litigation involving foreign governments and their instrumentalities on American soil.1 In the international community, foreign states and their instrumentalities are increasingly involved in international commercial arbitration and the resulting enforcement of foreign awards in the U.S. arising from myriad commercial transactions, including those related to privatization and investments in emerging markets. Foreign sovereigns and their instrumentalities are especially active in the sphere of global money markets, and thus try to attract foreign capital to their national economies.
This paper highlights significant recent appellate decisions addressing international commercial arbitration in the context of the enforcement of arbitral awards against an agency or instrumentality of a foreign state. These decisions will be of interest to those practitioners representing foreign states and to those representing parties with adverse interest whose position in arbitration and subsequent enforcement litigation in the Unites States will be affected by recent precedents.
Recent decisions rendered under the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards2 (“The New York Convention”) and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act3 (“FSIA”) have farranging consequences for government agencies and instrumentalities intended to be protected under the FSIA.
*Arbitral and Judicial Decisions
**J.D. 2006, LL.M. Candidate 2007, University of Miami School of Law. The author expresses his sincere appreciation and thanks to Mark Bravin, Esq., Thomas O’Brien, Esq. and Professor John Rooney.