{"id":288584,"date":"2025-12-12T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/?p=288584"},"modified":"2025-12-15T17:39:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T16:39:04","slug":"spotlight-on-recognition-and-enforcement-of-annulled-awards-from-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyjus.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/12\/spotlight-on-recognition-and-enforcement-of-annulled-awards-from-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on France: Navigating the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards Annulled at the Seat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Current Legal Framework and Practical Implications, from France<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

THE AUTHOR:<\/strong>
Remi Sassine<\/strong><\/a>, Associate at Clyde & Co<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Clyde & Co<\/a>\u2019s Young Arbitration Group provides a unique insight into\u00a0international arbitration\u00a0issues through the lens of young international arbitration practitioners working across different jurisdictions. <\/em>In this series with Daily Jus<\/a><\/em><\/em>, Clyde & Co examines notable arbitral developments from around the world<\/strong>, offering a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction analysis of key cases, legislative reforms, and emerging trends that shaped international arbitration over the past year.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Recognition and Enforcement in France of Foreign Arbitral Awards Annulled at the Seat<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Article V of the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards<\/a> (the \u201cNew York Convention<\/strong>\u201d) lists the grounds on which the recognition and enforcement of an award \u201cmay<\/em>\u201d be refused. While some contracting States to the New York Convention follow the grounds listed in Article V, others apply more favorable domestic rules and exclude certain of these grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France has taken the latter approach. It excludes, in particular, the ground set out in Article V(1)(e) of the New York Convention, which provides that a court \u201cmay<\/em>\u201d refuse the recognition and enforcement of an award that \u201chas been set aside by a competent authority in which, or under the law of which, that award was made<\/em>\u201d (See Article 1520 of the French Code of Civil Procedure<\/a> (\u201cFCCP<\/strong>\u201d) which does not list the annulment of an award by the courts at the seat of arbitration as a ground for refusing its recognition and enforcement). Accordingly, French courts recognize and enforce awards rendered abroad that have been annulled at the seat (See French Cour de Cassation, 1st Civil Chamber, 9 October 1984, 83-11.355<\/a>; 10 March 1993, 91-16.041<\/a>; 23 March 1994, 92-15.137<\/a>; 29 June 2007, 05-18.053<\/a>; Paris Court of Appeal, 14 January 1997, 95\/23025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The French Cour de cassation<\/em> explained the reasoning behind this approach by stating that an international arbitral award \u201cis<\/em> not anchored in any national legal order<\/em>\u201d but is a \u201cdecision of international justice whose validity must be assessed based on the rules applicable in the country where its recognition and enforcement are sought<\/em>\u201d (French Cour de Cassation, 1st Civil Chamber, 29 June 2007, 05-18.053<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This principle has since been extended to domestic (and not only international) awards rendered abroad and annulled at the seat (See Paris Court of Appeal, 21 May 2019, 17\/19850<\/a>, confirmed by French Cour de Cassation, 1st Civil Chamber, 13 January 2021, 19-22.932<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Refusal by French Courts to Recognize and Enforce Awards Incompatible with an Enforceable Foreign Judgment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

French courts recognize and enforce awards rendered abroad which have been annulled at the seat unless such recognition and enforcement breaches French international public policy, commonly defined as \u201cthe set of values a breach of which could not be tolerated by the French legal order, even in international cases<\/em>\u201d (See Fouchard, Gaillard, & Goldman, On International Commercial Arbitration, Kluwer Law International, 1999, para. 1648).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Paris Court of Appeal has specified, in a decision 19\/11413 dated 12 July 2021<\/a>, that a breach of French international public policy may occur if an award is \u201cincompatible<\/em>\u201d with a domestic or foreign judgment already enforceable in France. The Paris Court of Appeal has further specified that decisions are \u201cincompatible<\/em>\u201d when they produce \u201cmutually exclusive legal consequences<\/em>\u201d and are \u201cequally enforceable on French territory<\/em>\u201d (See Paris Court of Appeal, 11 January 2022, 20\/17923, para. 54<\/a>. See also Paris Court of Appeal, 1 February 2022, 19\/22977<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This raises the question of whether the recognition and enforcement of an award is \u201cincompatible<\/em>\u201d with a foreign judgment \u2013 already recognized in France \u2013 that annuls that same award. The response is, logically, yes, as the two decisions have direct opposite effects (one decision granting effect to the award and the other depriving it of any effect).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This question, in turn, raises another: whether a foreign judgment that annuls an award may be recognized in France given the French principle of the autonomy of arbitral awards. Indeed, the principle of the autonomy of arbitral awards provides that the validity of an award must be assessed according to the rules applicable in the country where recognition and enforcement are sought. Yet, recognizing a foreign judgment that annuls an award precludes such assessment and therefore breaches (or at least undermines) the principle of the autonomy of arbitral awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, it should be recalled that a foreign judgment will only be denied recognition in France if one or more of the three following conditions is not met<\/a> (assuming that there are no applicable international conventions on the recognition and enforcement of judgments):<\/p>\n\n\n\n