France—effect of the inadmissibility of the request to set aside an award (Mr [D] & Financière Vauban v Edifices de France)

Article summary

Arbitration analysis: In a decision dated 7 June 2023, the French Court of Cassation ruled that, pursuant to Article 1498 of the Code of Civil Procedure, a decision declaring a request to set aside an award to be inadmissible does not entail the award’s exequatur and does not exempt a party who intends to enforce the award from obtaining an enforcement order from the court, pursuant to Articles 1487 and 1488 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The Court of Cassation followed a strict interpretation of Article 1498 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The decision closes a loophole in the legislation and provides legal certainty. It is now set that the parties seeking to enforce an award in France would have to file a request for exequatur of the award, even if the Court of Appeal or the Court of Cassation rules that the request to set aside the award...