Enforcement of arbitration awards: jurisdictional challenges and the New York Convention

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal in Astro Nusantara International BV and Others v PT Ayunda Prima Mitra and Others [2016] HKCA 595 has given detailed consideration to the question whether a court asked to enforce an arbitration award under the New York Convention has a discretion to enforce even where the respondent has made out the argument that the award was made without jurisdiction.

The case discusses the “good faith” principle under which a respondent who has deliberately refrained from raising a jurisdictional defence before the arbitrators may be precluded from doing so at the enforcement stage. This principle has not been recognised in England, but it reflects the attitude of the English courts to the question of enforcement.