Introduction
France is an arbitration-friendly jurisdiction with a positive attitude towards enforcement of international arbitral awards. The enactment of Decree 2011-48 of 13 January 2011, which reformed French arbitration law, reinforced this positive approach.
One of the major innovations of Decree 2011-48 was Article 1526 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC). Pursuant to said article, a motion to set aside an international arbitral award or an appeal against an order granting such award s enforcement (
exequatur) no longer leads to an automatic stay of execution of the international arbitral award.
However, this innovation is accompanied by an important safeguard: if the international award s enforcement is likely to severely harm the rights of one of the parties, the first president of the court of appeal ruling in expedite proceedings or the pre-trial judge overseeing the case, once appointed, may stay or amend the award s enforcement (Article 1526(2)).(1)