Appellant R. SA v. Appellee A. Ltd.

R. SA (defendant) and A. Ltd. (plaintiff) submitted a contractual dispute to the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) for arbitration pursuant to an arbitration clause in the contract between them. CIETAC issued an award in favor of A. Subsequently, A filed in a Swiss lower court seeking recognition and enforcement of the CIETAC award. In support of its request, A submitted a nonauthenticated English version of the contract, a nonauthenticated copy of the original award, which was written in Chinese, and a copy of the award that was fully translated into French. An employee of the Swiss Embassy in Beijing certified the first and last pages of the French translation. The first and last pages together contained the designated arbitral institution, the identities of the parties and arbitrators, the outcome of arbitration, and a confirmation that the award was final. The Swiss lower court granted recognition and enforcement of the CIETAC award. R appealed, arguing that the lower court improperly granted A’s request even though the lower court acknowledged that A did not submit the exact documentation required by the New York Convention (the convention) for the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. R agreed that the copy accurately represented the original award and that the French translation was correct but challenged the lower court’s decision on the ground that the authentication and certification requirements of Article IV of the convention were not met.