ICAI1027 | International Commercial Arbitration And India

There is a general agreement that arbitration, as a method of settlement of commercial disputes, plays an ever important role in the discipline of international commercial transactions today.  Most, if not all, contracts affecting international commercial transactions provide for settlement of any dispute/difference arising under these contracts between the parties would be settled through arbitration.

At the international level, the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, 1985, adopted by the United nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), provides modern arbitration structure which intends to integrate international commercial arbitration into the domestic arbitration machinery.  It is interesting to note that while adopting the Model Law into their domestic sphere States,  However, may deviate from the provisions of the Model Laws as there is no international obligation imposed on them to reproduce the entire regime in their domestic sphere.  In contrast, regarding the subject of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards is concerned international law provides a completely different type of regime:  the
Geneva Protocol on Arbitral Clauses, 1923, the Geneva Convention on the Execution of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 1927; the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 1958.

India had adopted the Geneva Protocol of 1923 and the Geneva Convention of 1927 and the New York Convention of 1958.  These international conventions were being given effect to in India through the Foreign Awards( Geneva Protocol & Convention) Act of 1937 and the now repealed Foreign Awards (Recognition & Enforcement) Act of 1961.  With the objective of modernizing its legal regime applicable to both domestic and international commercial arbitration, India enacted the Arbitration and Conciliation Act in 1996, followed by the two amendments to the Principal Act in 2015 and 2019, respectively.