Wolff: New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards - Commentary

Reinmar Wolff has published New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards - Commentary (Nomos 2013). Here's the abstract:

In a world of globalised trade and commerce, businesses are faced with judicial services of various legal traditions, some of questionable quality and neutrality. As a result, arbitration has become the dispute resolution mechanism of choice in cross-border commercial transactions. International arbitration not only paves the way for parties to avoid the imponderables of proceedings before foreign state courts. It also facilitates the transnational enforceability of awards which is far more effective than the enforceability of state court judgements. The major instrument is the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (“New York Convention”) of 10 June 1958. In the meantime, the New York Convention has become one of the most successful conventions ever, ratified by 147 states, including all trading nations of importance. Having established uniform global standards for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration agreements and arbitral awards, the New York Convention’s role in promoting international arbitration cannot be underestimated. For good reasons the New York Conventions is labelled the Magna Charta of international arbitration. The 16 articles of the Convention are dealt with article-by-article, with a clear structure which swiftly guides the reader to the issue that he or she is engaged with.