Case Law
Colombia / 12 November 1998 / Colombia, Corte Suprema de Justicia (Supreme Court of Justice) / Merck & Co. Inc., Frosst, Frosst Laboratories Inc. v Sociedad Tecnoquimicas SA / Exp. No. 7394
| Country | Colombia |
| Court | Colombia, Corte Suprema de Justicia (Supreme Court of Justice) |
| Date | 12 November 1998 |
| Parties | Merck & Co. Inc., Frosst, Frosst Laboratories Inc. v Sociedad Tecnoquimicas SA |
| Case number | Exp. No. 7394 |
| Source |
http://www.cortesuprema.gov.co (website of the Corte Suprema de Justicia) |
| Summary | On 23 June 1986, the companies Merck and Frosst entered into various contracts with the Colombian company Tecnoquimicas. The contracts contained an arbitration agreement providing for ICC arbitration. A dispute arose between the parties and the companies Merck and Frosst filed a Request of arbitration on 3 February 1997 before the ICC. Tecnoquimicas filed a Request for arbitration before the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota on 7 March 1997. On 29 July 1998, the ICC sole arbitrator rendered an interim award holding that the arbitration agreements were valid, and that he had jurisdiction over the dispute. He ordered Tecnoquimicas to refrain from pursuing the arbitral proceeding it had started before the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota. The arbitrator did not rule on the merits. The Corte Suprema de Justicia (Supreme Court) denied recognition to the arbitral award. The Corte Suprema de Justicia considered that the requirements for recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award are set in Article 695 of the Code of civil procedure. It considered that recognition of a foreign decision can only occur when the decision is final, i.e., when it is a decision on the merits. The Corte Suprema de Justicia added that this principle was not diminished by the NYC which refers to "arbitral awards". The Corte Suprema de Justicia noted, pursuant to the award itself, that it was not final pending a definitive outcome on the merits. |
| affirmed by : |
Attachment (1)
 Original Language Adobe Acrobat PDF |
