Study On The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Arbitration Awards In China

In recent years, affected by the global economic turmoil, unstable factors existed in the international shipping market arises mass of maritime disputes.Based on the arbitration’s confidentiality, efficiency, neutrality, specialism in solving disputes and convenience in the enforcement of the award, most of the shipping and foreign trade enterprises are tend to submit their disputes to arbitration. In practice, the situation that Chinese enterprises or individuals were involved in arbitration in foreign countries also happens constantly. Once the Chinese Party fails in arbitration, the foreign creditors would apply for recognition and enforcement of the arbitral award in our country. After New York Convention coming into effect in China in1987, concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award covered by this convention, Chinese courts shall mainly review the party’s application on the basis of the Convention; as for those not governed by this convention, Chinese courts shall take the reciprocity doctrine and our domestic law as the legal ground. From both theoretical and practical views, this paper will discuss the recognition and enforcement of the international arbitral awards in our country in detail. The specific contents are as follows.The first chapter, the basic theory of foreign arbitral award, which is divided into three sections, firstly draws forth the definition standards of "foreign country" under China’s existing statutes through the analyzing it’s definition standards under international conventions and foreign laws; secondly analyzes the definition and characteristics of "maritime arbitration"; finally defines "award" from two aspects:category and effect.The second chapter, the procedure and legal grounds for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. It studies on the requirements of application for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award in our country from the view of our national legislation, mainly including procedure for filling a case, preservation procedure and review procedure of the courts. Then it analyzes the legal grounds in reviewing the application for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award from the perspective of domestic legislation and international legislation.The third chapter, the reasons to refuse recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award under New York Convention. This chapter specially discusses the reasons that are used to refuse recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award stipulated in article5of New York Convention one by one, and points out the problems and solutions when applying the reasons aforesaid. Meanwhile, it combines with the statutes of our country, making the further study on the defenses of the parties and the review of the courts in the procedure of application for recognition and enforcement of foreign awards. Finally it evaluates the observation points and judiciary tendency of the people’s supreme court when hearing cases of this kind.The fourth chapter, the reasons to refuse recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award under our national legislation. It studies on the reasons in judicial practice which can be used to refuse recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award according to domestic procedural law, such as time bar, arbitral interim measures, disobedience of the procedure requirements before the arbitration, bankruptcy of the parties and state immunity.The fifth chapter, the defects and improvement suggestions for Chinese legal system of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award. Based on the studies in the previous five chapters, this chapter points out the defects existing in the Chinese legal system of recognition and enforcement of foreign maritime arbitral award, then brings forward the thorough suggestions aiming at these defects.