New York Convention Roadshow in São Paulo, Brazil
Report written by Marike Paulsson
On the 18th of October 2016, members of ICCA's Judiciary Committee Adriana Braghetta and Marike Paulsson spoke with representatives of Brazil's judiciary, the judges-in-training of the Magistrates School in Sao Paulo, Brazil alongside Claudio Finkelstein of PUC, Antonio Carlos Villen director of the Magistrates School, and judge João Negrini Filho. The dialogue was a reflection of the international and national outreach of ICCA's New York Convention Roadshows; Marike Paulsson addressed the global impact of the 1958 New York Convention and the role of the courts envisaged by members of the international arbitration community and Adriana Braghetta focused on the role of the courts in Brazil and whether their role is related to enforcement of domestic or foreign awards or the setting aside of awards.
Marike Paulsson focused on the vital role played by courts around the globe for a successful outcome of the New York Convention and for international arbitration to be an effective means of dispute resolution in international trade. She highlighted recent cases that made headlines worldwide such as the Tapis case, Sekolec and the PEMEX case that resulted in the enforcement of annulled award in the United States. She emphasized that the role of the courts is not to grade papers but to preserve the fundamental right to access to justice and the protection of international comity.
She commended the Brazilian judiciary and Brazil as a jurisdiction for having an exemplary attitude toward international arbitration and the enforcement of awards and for having a regime on enforcement for domestic awards that is even more favorable than the regime for enforcement of foreign awards.
Adriana Braghetta explained that Brazil does so well as a jurisdiction and arbitral seat because it is relatively young and can build an arbitration climate without the vices that burden many other jurisdictions:
"We had a very positive judicial dialogue with judges from the Sao Paulo Court of Appeals. The initiative demonstrates a great deal interest from the judiciary as a whole in relation to arbitration matters. We could discuss setting aside proceedings, pre arbitral injunctions and the competence-competence principle, among other issues," explained Adriana Braghetta. She also talked about the arbitral letter, which will be one of the most relevant tools for international arbitration in the future and will be discussed at future dialogues in Brazil.
Judge Negrini Filho emphasized how important it is for judges to have these types of events and conversations and how it will be necessary for the Brazilian judiciary to have another judicial dialogue once the first case applying the arbitral letter has surfaced.
Both Marike Paulsson and Adriana Braghetta introduced the Virtual Forum of ICCA, a forum that will enable the judges in the audience and judges in training to communicate with judges around the world about the application of the New York Convention, the role of the courts and how courts are to apply treaties.