New York Convention

The New York Convention, or to give its full title, the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, was a series of measures adopted on June 10, 1958, during a diplomatic conference organized by the United Nations (UN). They required that the courts in the countries that sign the convention agree to recognize arbitration agreements in each of these countries. This, therefore, set the standard for international arbitration and cross-border enforcement of arbitration awards. The name New York Convention came from the fact that it was drawn up and signed in New York, at the headquarters of the UN.

The idea of the New York Convention came from the International Chamber of Commerce when they were meeting in 1952. They produced what became the first draft of the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of International Arbitral Awards to the UN Economic and Social Council. This had support from many countries, and Kohei Teraoka, the secretary of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, signed this on February 4—it was the first official act performed by the Japanese in the UN headquarters. The 1952 meeting led to the International Conference in 1958, which was chaired by Willem Schurmann, the permanent representative of the Netherlands to the UN, and Oscar Schachter, who worked at the UN and later became president of the American Society of International Law, after many years of teaching at Columbia Law School.

The system of international arbitration through the New York Convention has made it much easier for alternative dispute resolutions for cross-border commercial transactions. This is because of the reduced costs—the arbitrations are final and not ordinarily subject to appeal. They can also be done confidentially. And last, the arbitration is immediately enforceable in another jurisdiction provided that that country has signed the convention. It is also possible, for some complicated political disputes, to have the arbitration take place in a neutral country.

As with UN conventions, representatives of countries signed the agreement, but it did not come into force until it was ratified by that country's legislature or cabinet, or whatever process chosen by the country. At that point, the country is then bound to the convention. The first country to accede to the New York Convention was Israel on January 5, 1959, followed by Morocco on February 12; Egypt and Syria (as constituent members of the United Arab Republic) on March 9; France on June 26; and Thailand on December 21. In 1960 Cambodia, India, and the Soviet Union joined, with Norway, Austria, Japan, West Germany, Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria in the following year; and Ecuador, Finland, Hungary, Sri Lanka, Greece, Madagascar, and the Central African Republic in 1962.

After the initial impetus, a few more countries joined each year—the United States on September 30, 1970; the United Kingdom on September 24, 1975; Canada on May 12,1986; and the People s Republic of China on January 22, 1987. The reason for the delay in the United States acceding to the convention was that the enforcement of arbitral awards was under the jurisdiction of the various states, not the federal government—although there were many business interests who wanted the U.S. government to accede to the convention. The most recent country to join was [Page 1210]the United Arab Emirates on August 21, 2006. There are 51 member states of the UN and the Republic of China that have not signed the convention. The only European countries that have not signed are Andorra and Vatican City.

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