UN International Commercial Arbitration speechs in the United States

Opening Speech by Ambassador Schurmann
for the United Nations Conference
on International Commercial Arbitration

“1. Before I ask the members of the Conference to turn
their attention to the task that lies before us, I
would give expression to my deep gratitude to my fellow
delegates for the trust they have placed in me by electing
me to preside over our debates. I know that in doing so
they have wished to pay tribute to my country for its share
in the development of private international law. If our
Conference succeeds, some small progress towards the rule
of law and the smooth settlement of international disputes
in the realm of private law will have been achieved. To
be allowed to contribute towards that aim is an honour and
a responsibility and I should like to assure you all that
I shall try my best to show myself worthy of your trust
and to guide our activities in a hannonious atmosphere and
an expeditious manner.
2. In particular I wish to thank the distinguished
representative of Belgium for having proposed my
nomination and the distinguished representatives of Japan
and Columbia for having seconded that proposal. Their words
of praise, though hardly deserved, were treasured by me as
evidence of their good will – an asset of which the president
of any conference, if he is to avoid failure and confusion,
stands in constant need.
3. The present Conference has been convened by the
Secretary-General of the United Nations in pursuance
of resolution 604(XXI), adopted by the Economic and Social
Council on the rd of May 19 6, under the powers granted to
it by the fourth paragraph of Article 62 of the Charter of
the United Nations. It may not be without interest to
recall briefly the developments Whi h preceded the adoPtion
of that resolution.

4. 4. Although arbitration, as a means of settling disputes,
has held its place beside the normal forensic procedure
for many centuries, and although his device for circumventing
the sometimes slow cumbersome and costly actions available
in the courts has been applied especially in respect of
international commercial contracts, it was not until 192
that an effort was made to give the stamp of official Inter-
governmental approval to this useful practice and to improve
the international conditions under which it could operate.
On the 24th of September, the Geneva Protocol on
Arbitration Clauses was concluded tinder the auspices of the
League of Nations. This Protocol provided for the recognition of the validity of arbitration agreements and for the
exemption of disputes subject to such agreements from the
normal Jurisdiction of courts it is ratified or acceded
to by thirty States.
5. The Protocol on Arbitration Clauses gave recognition
to the all of the parties in choosing arbitration
as a means of settlement of their disputes, but did not
provide for any assistance to be given by state authorities
in enforcing arbitral awards which were not carried out
voluntarily. As a further step, therefore, 24 of the signatories to the Protocol on Arbitration Clauses concluded,
on the 2(,th of September 1927, the Geneva Convention on
the Execution of Foreign Arbitral. This Convention
provided for the enforcement of arbitral awards rendered in
the territory of one of the Contracting Parties, between persons subject to the Jurisdiction of one of them.
It stipulated the conditions necessary to obtain the recognition or enforcement of such awards, the grounds on Which
enforcement could be refused, and the documentary or other
evidence which a claimant seeking the enforcement of an
arbitral could be required to supply.
6. While the Geneva Convention constituted a considerable
step forward in facilitating 1`ellance on arbitration
in the settlement of international commercial disputes, it
had a limited territorial scope and did not apply to a large
number of Important trading areas of the world. Moreover,
the continuing expansion of world trade and the acceleration…”
of the commercial processes soon caused the business
community to regard the provisions of this Convention as
inadequate. In order to promote the finding of a remedy
for some of the shortcomings of the existing situation
the International Chamber of Commerce prepared, in 1953,
a new draft for a “Convention on the Enforcement of International Arbltral Awards” and proposed that the consider-
ation of this :Item be placed on the agenda of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

….law disputes and to make recommendations thereon. The
thorough preparatory work undertaken by the International
Chamber of Commerce and by the Council and its Committee,
as well as the comments …made by the
governments and interested organizations, will undoubtedly
be of great …. of that task.

9. 9. At this point I should perhaps say a few words on the
procedure Which the Conference might wish to adopt in
dealing with the items before it. Since the views on major
points have already been presented by the Governments, it
may not be necessary to have a general debate in the usual
sense. However, some delegations may wish to have an
opportunity to express their views on the draft Convention
as a whole and on other business before the Conference.
I would suggest that such discussion take place before the
Conference enters into an article by article consideration
of the draft Convention, and that in these preliminary
statements the delegations do not concern themselves with
the specific provisions of the draft up in which they will
comment later.
10. When the Conference takes up the various Articles of
the Draft Convention it may be necessary, if agreement
is not reached in the Plenary Season, to refer the Article
and the proposed amendments to a small working group to
prepare a draft text or alternative texts to be voted on
by the Plenary Session. Such working groups could be set
up as necessary for various Articles of the Draft Convention
in the course of the work of the Conference. After the
Conference will have adopted the Draft Convention on its
first reading it would then seem desirable to refer the
entire text to a small drafting committee which will examine
the text from a technical and linguistic standpoint before
it is finally submitted to the Conference. This procedure
has been generally used, not without some success; in other
aim United Nations Conferences.
ll. It may also be useful to establish, at an early stage
of the Conference, another Committee to explore the
nature and scope or the work that he Conference could
undertake under item 5 of the agenda. Some material that
could be considered under this item is included in the
“Consolidated Report on Activities of inter-Governmental
and non-Governmental Organizations in the field of Inter-
national Commercial Arbitration and in a
Note prepared by the Secretary-General (E/CONF.26/6), but
this material covers a rather wide range of subJects. It
might save the time of the Conference if some preParatory
work on this item were first done by a smaller group so that
the Conference could then concentrate its attention on
selected issues which had already been explored in a
preliminary way.
12. May I say In conclusion that the work we have to do
is intricate and extensive whereas the time allotted
to us is com relatively short. In order that we should
gain our award it Is desirable that we should recognize
and enforce the rules of cordial cooperation and abstain
from arbitrariness.”