American courts' approach : parties' agreement to expand the grounds for annulling arbitral awards

Abstract EN

One of the deficiencies that emerged under the New York Convention of 1958 on the "Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards" is the absence of the grounds upon which arbitral awards can be annulled.

This research clarifies that this deficiency has led to further deficiencies; the annulment grounds listed under the national arbitration laws, particularly under the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 in the United States, are not mandatory and thus can be expanded by parties' agreements.

This research is divided into three main sections in addition to the introduction and the conclusion.

The issues that will be discussed are: approaches of the federal courts and academics; academics' attempts to reconcile the split in the federal courts; and the effect of the expanded annulment grounds.

This research concludes that accepting parties' agreements to expand the annulment grounds is now considered as a loophole and governed entirely by courts’ discretion.