France / 28 June 2001 / France, Cour d'appel de Paris / M. Golshani v. Gouvernement de la République islamique d'Iran / 2000/08671
| Country | France |
| Court | France, Cour d'appel de Paris (Court of Appeal of Paris) |
| Date | 28 June 2001 |
| Parties | M. Golshani v. Gouvernement de la République islamique d'Iran |
| Case number | 2000/08671 |
| Source |
Original decision obtained from the registry of the Cour d’appel de Paris |
| Summary | An individual seized the Iran-US Claims Tribunal on 19 January 1982 to obtain compensation for the alleged expropriation of his shares in various companies. An award was rendered on 2 March 1993 which dismissed his claims. In an order issued on 1 February 1999, the President of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris (First Instance Court of Paris) allowed enforcement of the arbitral award in France. Appealing this decision, the individual argued that the recognition and enforcement of the award is contrary to Article 1502 1° of the Code of Civil Procedure given that the arbitral tribunal ruled in the absence of an arbitration agreement and invoked a decision of the High Court of 26 July 2005 which had refused to apply the NYC to an award rendered by the Iran-US Claims Tribunal. The Cour d'appel de Paris (Paris Court of Appeal) confirmed the enforcement order and dismissed the appeal. It first rejected the argument of the Republic of Iran that the individual's appeal would be inadmissible. It then noted that the individual challenged the enforcement order under Article 1502 1° of the Code of Civil Procedure and did not invoke (similarly to the Republic of Iran) the NYC. The Cour d'appel de Paris then held that the existence and effectiveness of the arbitration agreement is to be assessed, subject to due process and international public policy, on the common intention of the parties, reflecting the principle of validity of the arbitration agreement. It then explained that given that the Algiers Agreements created an arbitral tribunal to which legal and natural persons could submit their dispute, the natural persons that seized the Iran-US Claims Tribunal were bound by the arbitration agreement concluded in the Treaty. Given that the individual had seized the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, the Cour d'appel de Paris held that his argument based on the absence of an arbitration agreement was inadmissible. |
| affirmed by : |
Attachment (1)
 Original Language Adobe Acrobat PDF |
