6.1 Legal framework for online arbitral awards

Arbitral awards are made at the final step in the arbitration proceedings, which ‘shall include not only awards made by arbitrators appointed for each case but also those made by permanent arbitral bodies to which the parties have submitted’. 1 There is no express definition of arbitral awards in international and national arbitration legislation. The majority of institutional arbitration rules and national law provide similar basic requirements as to the format and issuance of arbitral awards and the reasoning of the awards, though the requirement as to the standard of reasoning may vary. The New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Law also implies the form requirement of arbitral awards that the party applying for recognition and enforcement shall, at the time of the application, supply ‘the duly authenticated original award or a duly certified copy’. 2 Such arbitral awards shall be binding and enforceable in each contracting State subject to the grounds for refusal of enforcement in its Article V. 3