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Cour d’Appel, Paris, International Commercial Chamber, Pole 5, Chamber 16, 14 March 2023, No. 24/2023

(State of Libya v. ... Read more

Cour d’Appel, Paris, International Commercial Chamber, Pole 5, Chamber 16, 14 March 2023, No. 24/2023

(State of Libya v. Etrak Insaat Taahhüt Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi)

14 - 03 - 2023

FRANCE 2024-1

Yearbook Yearbook Commercial Arbitration, S. W. Schill (ed.), Vol. XLIX (2024)
Jurisdiction France
Summary

The Court of Appeal affirmed the ex parte order granting exequatur of a Swiss award rendered in an arbitration under a BIT. It found that the arbitral tribunal had had jurisdiction, because the it was irrelevant that the settlement agreement on which Etrak’s claims were based had been annulled by a Tripoli court prior to the rendition of the award. Whether the settlement agreement could be the basis for a claim under the BIT was a question to be answered solely in light of the wording of the BIT, and according to that wording, the Court found, the settlement agreement fell within the BIT’s scope. The Court also dismissed Libya’s argument that exequatur would violate public policy, because it was irreconcilable with the earlier judgment of the Tripoli court. The Court reasoned that, while exequatur of the award and the Libyan decision were indeed irreconcilable, the latter had not yet been recognized in France.

Related topics
512 Ground c: Excess by arbitrator of his authority - Excess of authority
524

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.

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