Summary

p>international arbitration - arbitral tribunal’s mission - principle of adversarial proceedings - international public policy - dismissal

p>In this case, the court rejected the claim for setting aside the arbitral award handed down in Paris based on three grounds. The appellants, domiciled in Morocco, essentially criticized the court for ordering them to reimburse sums which in principle were not contested, to their former associate, a company based in the British Virgin Islands, in dirhams, their national currency, instead of the euros initially requested. They argued that the award rendered under these conditions violated the public policy regulations of the Moroccan exchange office and that the court had violated its mission and the principle of adversarial proceedings.

p>The court rejected all the pleas considering that the arbitral tribunal, by respecting its mission and the adversarial principle, had granted the subsidiary claim of the claimants. The latter had accepted, in order to facilitate the execution by the debtor-defendants of their repayment obligations, to receive a payment in dirhams since they could not be paid in euros pursuant to the Moroccan exchange regulations. The payment being lawful, the court inferred that the award did not violate international public policy.