Enforcement in England and Wales of arbitral awards set aside in their country of origin

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the decision of Nikolay Viktorovich Maximov v Open Joint Stock Company ‘Novolipetsky Metallurgichesky Kombinat’, the English High Court dismissed the claimant's application to enforce a Russian arbitral award that had been set aside in Russia. The High Court held that in order to refuse recognition of the annulment decision, ‘[t]he decision of the foreign court must be deliberately wrong, not simply wrong by incompetence’. The High Court found that the claimant had failed to discharge this heavy burden, notwithstanding its ‘severe criticism’ of the Russian annulment decision. The case serves as a reminder of the difficulties that a party will face in seeking to enforce an arbitral award in England if it has been set aside in the country of origin.