Challenge of Arbitral Awards

No one likes losing. So it is not surprising that when a client is disappointed with an arbitral award, the first question he asks his lawyer is: ‘How can I appeal?’

‘Appeal’ against an award,  or‘recourse’ to a court, or  more accepted term "Challenge "means either an appeal to a different tribunal (where this is possible under the internal rules of the arbitration) or an appeal to the relevant court which may be asked to vary the award, or to send it back to the arbitrators for reconsideration, or to order that it should be set aside in whole or in part. The law of the seat of the arbitration may contain different provisions for challenging an arbitral award.

Available Options:

 

Before challenging an award before the relevant court, it will usually be necessary to exhaust other available remedies, which may include:

•	any available process of appeal or review (available in certain arbitratl institutions such as in amritime and commodity arbitrations); and
•	any available provision for the correction of the award or for an additional award. Consider that time limits for making an application for the correction or amendment of an arbitral award, or for challenging the award by an application to the relevant national court, are likely to be extremely short (1-3 months).

‘Order’ or ‘award’

Distinguishing between an ‘award’ and a procedural ‘order’ may not be as easy as simply reading the title that an arbitral tribunal chooses to give to its ruling. In recent years, both the Paris Cour d'Appel (The Paris Cour d'Appel decision in Brasoil) and a US Federal Court of Appeals (True North) have classified certain arbitral decisions as ‘awards’, and therefore susceptible to annulment and/or recognition and enforcement proceedings in national courts, even though they were entitled ‘orders’ by arbitral tribunals.

Source: Redfern and Hunter on International Arbitration