SET ASIDE OF ARBITRAL AWARDS AND ITS GENERAL CONTEXT IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

Resumo

A set aside proceeding aims at nullifying an arbitral award in the country in which, or under the law of which, that award was made.
This paper focuses on the general context of a set aside proceeding in international arbitration, bearing in mind that every single country may have specific legislation in that regard. Nonetheless, since the New York Convention and the UNCITRAL Model Law are adopted by most developed countries, the rules stated in these pieces of legislation will be used as premises for the discussion on this topic.
In this sense, the objectives of this paper are to (i) present the main concept of a set aside proceeding under the New York Convention, as well as under the UNCITRAL Model Law; and (ii) explain which problems are faced during the set aside proceeding, or even after it when the party tries to enforce the set aside award in any other jurisdiction, addressing feasible solutions which can be adopted to avoid, or at least reduce, such problems.
Finally, to achieve these objectives, the first aspect to be addressed is how the New York Convention and the UNCITRAL Model Law deal with the set aside of arbitration awards. Secondly, although in the same chapter, the paper discusses the approach to set aside proceedings in France and the United States.