Cass. Civ. 1st, 22 May 2024, n° 22-17.754
The exequatur of an arbitral award is the procedure that makes an arbitral award enforceable in France. Once the exequatur is granted, it is possible to appeal against the order of exequatur.
In the case submitted to the Court of cassation, the company X had obtained the exequatur of an arbitral award against the company Y.
The company Y appealed the order of exequatur before the Court of appeal.
The Court of appeal of Paris confirmed the order of exequatur, considering that the pleas raised by the company Y were not founded.
The company Y then formed an appeal in cassation.
It notably invoked that the Court of appeal had not carried out a sufficient review of the conditions of the exequatur and that it had disregarded the limits of its office.
The Court of cassation, in its decision of 22 May 2024, rejects the appeal of the company Y.
It states: “The judge of the exequatur, seized of an appeal against the order of exequatur, exercises a limited review, which bears on the conditions of the exequatur provided for by the international conventions and the code of civil procedure.”
It adds: “He cannot review the merits of the arbitral award, nor substitute his own assessment to that of the arbitrators, unless the award is contrary to the international public order.”
This decision is interesting because it reaffirms the principle of the limitation of the review of the judge of the exequatur.
The judge of the exequatur is not a judge of the merits and cannot review the reasoning or the conclusions of the arbitral tribunal, provided that the latter has respected the essential procedural rules and that the award is not contrary to the international public order.
This jurisprudence ensures the effectiveness of international arbitration by limiting the possibilities of contesting arbitral awards before national courts and by promoting the recognition and the execution of the latter.
This decision also reminds us that the parties to an international arbitration must accept the risks of the decision of the arbitrators and that the recourse against the award must remain an exceptional procedure.