COSTA RICA 19 December 2019 Del Monte Internacional
Corte Suprema de Justicia, First Chamber, 19 December 2019, No. 04655 - 2019
(Del Monte Internacional GmbH v. Inversiones y Procesadora Tropical Sociedad Anónima (INPROTSA))
COSTA RICA 19 December 2019 Del Monte Internacional
INPROTSA relied on both Costa Rican law and the New York Convention to oppose exequatur of an ICC award rendered in the United States. The Supreme Court dismissed all objections, finding that the award had been duly authenticated by the ICC, and that there had been neither a violation of due process nor an excess of authority or incongruency on the part of the arbitrators. The Court noted that, in fact, INPROTSA was seeking an impermissible review of the arbitral decision. The argument that exequatur would violate public policy also failed, as the Court found that none of the alleged violations constituted a violation of a fundamental principle of Costa Rican law. While punitive damages were indeed not allowed in Costa Rica, the Court found that the damages awarded by the ICC tribunal in the case at issue were not punitive.
The court discusses the general conditions the Convention imposes on a petitioner for seeking recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award – namely, the submission of the original arbitration agreement or arbitral award or a certified copy thereof – and examines in general whether these conditions were complied in the case at issue.
The court discusses issues relating to the manner of authentication and certification of the award and/or arbitration agreement.
The court discusses the principle that the merits of the award may not be reviewed and that the court may only carry out a limited review of the award to ascertain grounds for refusal.
Due process: The court discusses various irregularities affecting due process, including letters not sent, names of arbitrators or experts not communicated, language of proceedings and communications, etc.
Public policy: The court discusses the meaning of (international as compared to domestic) public policy, generally defined as the basic notions of morality and justice of the enforcement State.
Public policy: The court discusses the effect of other alleged violations of public policy on the recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award, such as contradictory reasons, manifest disregard of the law (US), etc.