Recognition and Enforcement - ICSID Convention (2006 Rules)

An award of a Tribunal is binding on all parties to the proceeding and each party must comply with it pursuant to its terms (Article 53(1) of the ICSID Convention).  If a party fails to comply with the award, the other party can seek to have the pecuniary obligations recognized and enforced in the courts of any ICSID Member State as though it were a final judgment of that State’s courts (Article 54(1) of the ICSID Convention).

A party seeking recognition or enforcement in a Member State must provide a copy of the award certified by the Secretary-General to a competent court (or other authority which the State has designated for this purpose (ICSID/8)). Certified copies are sent to the parties on the date of dispatch of the award, and the parties may request additional copies at any time.

Although Member States must recognize and enforce the award, each State’s laws relating to sovereign immunity from execution continue to apply (Article 55 of the ICSID Convention).

ICSID itself has no formal role in the recognition and enforcement of an award under the ICSID Convention. However, if a party informs ICSID of the other party’s non-compliance with an award, it is ICSID’s practice to contact the non-complying party to request information on the steps that party has taken, or will take, to comply with the award.