About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

25 J. Int'l Arb. 809 (2008)
Application of Article V of the New York Convention - A Central Asian Perspective

handle is hein.kluwer/jia0025 and id is 821 raw text is: Journal of International Arbitration 25(6): 809-819, 2008.
© 2008 Kluwer Lau International. Printed in The Netherlands.
Application of Article V of the New York Convention
A Central Asian Perspective
Noah RUBINS and Gorsha SUR*
International arbitration is a dynamically expanding concept in the five former U S. S. R. republics of Central
Asia. Positive changes reflect a rapidly growing volume of international coummnerce in that part of the world.
However, international arbitration practice in Central Asia is not homogeneous. Only Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, and Kyryzstan have so far acceded to the New York Convention, and among thtemt only Kazakhstan
has adopted legislation regulating international arbitration. In Turkmenistan and Tjikistani arbitration laws
remain under consideration. This article aalyzes the process of enforcement offoreign arbitrd awards in those
Central Asian republics that recognize the Convention. It familiarizes the reader with relevant legislation and
focuses on interpretation and application of three important exceptions to enforcement under Article V of the
Convention: procedural due process, arbitrability, and public policy.
I.   INTRODUCTION
International arbitration is a relatively novel phenomenon in the legal systems of the
five Central Asian republics of the former U.S.S.R. Any analysis of the grounds for deny-
ing the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, including concepts such as violation of
due process, arbitrability, and public policy, has to be conducted with this in mind. The
NewYork Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards
of 1958 (the Convention)' has been received with mixed success in Central Asia.
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan acceded to the Convention in the irnid-1990s,
not long after proclaiming independence from the disintegrating Soviet Union. In
Uzbekistan arid Kyrgyzstan, the Convention serves as the primary instrument regulating
the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Kazakhstan is the only Central Asian country
that has adopted legislation directed specifically at the enforcement of foreign awards.
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan have yet to accede to the Convention, despite the fact that
arbitration is gradually gaining acceptance in these republics.
The delay in embracing international arbitration in Central Asia can be attributed in
large part to the recent political and economic isolation of the region (with the exception
of Kazakhstan) from the global marketplace. All five Central Asian republics remain in
many ways authoritarian states, in which the level of executive control over courts varies
* Noah Rubins is Counsel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer L.L.P, Paris. Gorsha Sur is an associate at Fresh-
fields Bruckhaus Deringer L.L.P, Paris.
' Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards,June 10, 1958, 330 U.N.T.S.
3,21 US.T 2517,TI.A.S. No. 6997.
Copyright 2007 by Kluwer Law International. All rights reserved
No claims asserted to original government works

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most