INTRODUCTION

General

Art. 54 is the second of three Articles in Section 6 of Chapter IV of the Convention. Section 6 is entitled “Recognition and Enforcement of the Award”. Art. 53 deals with the award's binding force on the parties. Art. 55 deals with an exception to Art. 54 in preserving the immunity of a foreign State from execution.

Art. 54 is one of the most important provisions of the Convention. It provides for recognition and enforcement of ICSID awards by the courts of all States parties to the Convention. In addition to this general obligation, Art. 54 offers certain procedural directions: Parties to the Convention shall designate the competent authorities for recognition and enforcement to the Centre; a party to arbitration proceedings may submit a certified copy of an award to such an authority; and the modalities of execution are governed by the law concerning the execution of judgments of the country where execution is sought.

This enforcement provision is a distinctive feature of the ICSID Convention. Most other instruments governing international dispute settlement do not cover enforcement but leave this issue to domestic laws or applicable treaties. These domestic laws and treaties typically provide for some review of arbitral awards at the enforcement stage.