Enforcement of Arbitral Awards Annulled in Russia Case Comment on Dutch Supreme Court of 25 June 2010

By a decision dated 28 April 2009, the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam granted enforcement of four arbitral awards annulled by the Russian courts under the New York Convention of 1958. The Dutch Supreme Court declared the recourse against the Court of Appeal decision inadmissible. The Supreme Court on 25 June 2010 opined that such a recourse would violate Article III of the New York Convention since it would impose a more onerous condition on the enforcement of Convention awards than on domestic (Dutch) awards. In the author's opinion, the Supreme Court's reasoning is at odds with both the New York Convention and Dutch arbitration law.