Annulments of the Awards, Rendered by International Arbitration Tribunals

Abstract

The study aims to provide an overview of the problems faced by arbitration participants when attempting to annul or overturn an arbitral award on the merits of the dispute. In situations where an arbitral award contains a fatal error of fact and the lex arbitri and applicable law do not allow the award to be set aside on non-procedural grounds, the losing party finds itself in a situation where it has no adequate means of protecting its rights. This disposition compels legal scholarship to seek acceptable means of overcoming the problem without destructively affecting the very fabric of international arbitration. A mechanism for setting aside a defective award on appeal would help a party escape this legal trap. The idea of appellate review of arbitral awards is also ostracized as undermining the finality of arbitration as its fundamental basis. Proponents of this view also cite additional substantive considerations such as timing, efficiency, and cost. The study has identified and systematically described the problems faced by arbitration participants when attempting to overturn an arbitral award on the merits of the dispute. The study also brings us close to the inherent interdisciplinary problems of arbitration, which reveal themselves when they come into contact with national law. The most heated battles revolve around the desire to preserve the res judicata of arbitral awards, especially where the principle of party autonomy collides with the super imperative rules of national procedural law. The study conducted a comparative legal and normative analysis of the award annulments in courts and tribunals, as well as different arbitral institutions among themselves