Recent Decision Confirms France's Readiness to Enforce International Arbitral Awards Annulled at Place of Arbitration

February 2007
Arbitration Committee of the Legal Practice Division of the International (Vol 11 No 2)
Michael Polkinghorne, Leon Ioannou

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On 27 September 2005, the Cour d’appel de Paris (the Paris Court of Appeal) rendered a decision confirming the readiness of French courts to enforce international arbitration awards which have been annulled at the place of arbitration. The decision—rejecting an appeal against a French execution order (ordonnance d’exequatur) of an award rendered in Dubai but subsequently annulled by the UAE’s highest civil court—employs novel reasoning in fortifying the position taken by the Cour de Cassation (the French Supreme Court) in the famous Hilmarton case.