Janna Purdie looks at partial enforcement of New York Convention awards following a Court of Appeal decision earlier this month.
Perhaps surprisingly there was no English case law on the issue of whether or not a party could seek partial enforcement of a Convention award. The issue came before the court this month when Nigerian National Petroleum (NNP) appealed the issue to the Court of Appeal.
In delivering its judgment, the Court of Appeal clearly applied the spirit of the Convention, being the effective and speedy enforcement of awards, and took into account the importance of uniformity in the interpretation of international conventions. Under the judgment parties may now seek partial enforcement of a Convention award.
Facts of the case
Following an arbitration in Lagos, in which an award was made against NNP, NNP applied to the Federal High Court in Nigeria in 2004 to set aside the award (the challenge).
IPCO applied to the English courts in 2005 to enforce the award. Although that application was successful, Mr Justice Gross adjourned enforcement
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