Abstract

This article explores the obstacles posed by economic sanctions to the recognition and enforcement of international commercial arbitral awards. At the stage of recognition and enforcement, economic sanctions impede the enforceability of an award primarily on the basis of public policy defense, which is provided by Article V(2)(b) of the New York Convention. The decisions made by the enforcing courts in some jurisdictions show that economic sanctions are challenging the long tradition of upholding the validity of awards and adopting a narrow approach to interpret the public policy ...