The 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention) is viewed by many as one of the most (if not the most) successful commercial treaties to which the United States has become a party. To date, 154 countries have signed the New York Convention (most recently Bhutan, Burundi, Guyana and the State of Palestine), and the treaty is truly global in its scope. While the United States did not accede to the New York Convention until 1970, it has since been one of the leaders in promulgating jurisprudence, which is favorable to international arbitration and played a major role in advancing its use to resolve commercial disputes worldwide. The New York Convention consists of only 16 articles, and the goal of the Convention is two-fold: to enforce the parties’ agreement to arbitrate on the front end and to enforce any resulting award on the back end.

With this backdrop in mind, in July 2014 the United States submitted a proposal to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group II that it develop a convention on the enforcement of conciliated settlement agreements for international commercial disputes. In February 2015, UNCITRAL Working Group II held meetings in New York, where it considered this proposal with the goal of reporting to UNCITRAL on whether such a project was feasible.

Originally published in law.com on February 19, 2015.