Consent Awards in International Arbitration: From Settlement to Enforcement

Abstract

Although over a third of all arbitration proceedings result in settlement agreements very little has been written on the legal status of consent awards in international arbitration.

Drawing on comparative analysis of procedural rules and practice of major arbitration tribunals, domestic law of common and civil law jurisdictions, this Article presents the first major study of consent awards in international arbitration.

Consent awards, being effectively settlement agreements recorded by arbitration tribunals as awards, raise a number of difficult legal questions, ranging from the right of arbitrators to refuse recoding the settlement as a consent award to the possible use of consent awards to cover illegal activities.

Understanding what makes consent awards different from “normal” arbitration awards will help successfully navigate from settlement to enforcement.

Keywords: arbitration, settlement, award on agreed terms, mediation-arbitration, enforcement, illegality, arbitration awards

JEL Classification: K40, K41, K33, K42, K49