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- SPAIN 105
SPAIN 105
Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Catalunya, 10 March 2021
(Obras Portuaris de Coatzacoalcos, S.A. de C.V. and Matrix Concesiones, S.A. de C.V. v. FCC Construcción, SA)
SPAIN 105
The Court of Appeal granted enforcement of an ICC award rendered in Panama in a dispute between shareholders, dismissing several objections based on Art. V(1)(c) of the New York Convention and the fact that one of the defendants was not a signatory to the contract containing the arbitration clause – but was found to be bound by it by the arbitral tribunal. As a consequence, the contention that the enforcement of the award violated public policy – in its meaning of the fundamental rights of the Spanish legal system – also failed. The Court further found that the tribunal had not decided on non-arbitrable issues, and that it was irrelevant that an annulment action was still pending against the award in Panama, because the Convention required an award to be binding, rather than final.
The court discusses the overall scheme and/or pro-enforcement bias of the Convention.
Invalidity of the arbitration agreement: The court discusses other cases of invalidity of the arbitration agreement, including that there was no agreement at all or that the party was not a signatory thereto, that the incorrect arbitral institution was chosen, 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 cases in which the subject matter of the award was not arbitrable in the enforcement State on public policy grounds.
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.