•  
  •  
 

St. Thomas Law Review

First Page

317

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The basic mechanisms for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration agreements and awards in the United States are found in the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA"). The fundamental purpose of the FAA is to "ensure that private agreements to arbitrate are enforced according to their terms." The FAA applies to any maritime transaction or any transaction involving commerce "among the several States or with foreign nations.. ." to the full extent of federal commerce clause, whether enforcement is sought in federal or state court The FAA does not apply to "contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce." Recent decisions, however, have given this section a narrow interpretation, applying it only to contracts of employment for those classes of employees that are engaged directly in the movement of interstate commerce. The FAA's General Provisions are set out in Chapter One of the Act. The enabling legislation for the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards ("New York Convention") and the Inter-American Convention on International Commercial Arbitration ("Panama Convention") are found in Chapters Two and Three. The United States implemented provisions of the New York and Panama Conventions, in part, to enable the courts of the United States to follow a more uniform approach to the enforcement of foreign arbitration awards The determination of which Convention applies is clearly expressed in the FAA itself:

1. If a majority of the parties to the arbitration agreement are citizens of a State or States that have ratified [the Panama Convention] and are member States of the Organization of American States, the [Panama Convention] shall apply.

2. In all other cases the [New York Convention] shall apply.

Download

Share

COinS