The Significance of the Language of Arbitration Agreements - Focusing on the recent U.S. court's decision denying confirmation of arbitral award in Spineway SA v. Strategos Group LLC

Arbitration is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism based on the parties’ agreement to arbitrate any dispute(s) that may arise, rather than to proceed with litigation before national court(s). Arbitration may be similar to court proceedings in some ways, but due to its characteristics, such as, confidentiality of proceedings, enforceability of final and binding arbitral awards, and overall efficiency in the proceedings, among others, it has been the preferred way of resolving disputes by disputing parties all over the world. However, without valid arbitration agreements or other dispute resolution agreements properly providing for arbitration between the parties, arbitration cannot be had. Therefore, the language of any arbitration agreement must be clear and without any ambiguity in order to proceed to an effective and efficient arbitral process. Foreign arbitral awards are readily recognized and enforced due to the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, commonly referred to as the New York Convention. Generally in Contracting States, a summary proceeding of confirmation of the arbitral award is had in the relevant national court, giving the award enforceability in the court’s jurisdiction. Recently, in March of 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware denied the confirmation of a final foreign arbitral award based on one of the exhaustive grounds for refusing to recognize and enforce a foreign arbitral award pursuant to the New York Convention. Thus, this article focuses on examining such decision with issues of interpretation of the parties’ arbitration provision, unresolved question of proper jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, among others. Examination of such decision is necessary, especially in light of one of the parties having filed an appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals following this decision.