CIDIP: This Convention was adopted at the First Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-I), held in Panama City, Panama - January 1975.  

Ratifications: To date, the following countries have ratified this Convention: [click here] 

Objective: This Convention establishes the framework by which the Parties submit commercial disputes to arbitration.  

Summary: This Convention establishes that final arbitral awards have the same force of a final judicial judgment.  As a result, the Convention requires equal recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards and court judgments pursuant to the procedural rules of the country in which the award is enforced, as well as those established by international treaties on the matter.  

The party against whom an award is being enforced may contest the recognition and enforcement of the award  by proving the following elements: 1) that the parties to the agreement were subject to some incapacity under the applicable law or that the agreement is not legally valid; 2) that the party against which the arbitral decision has been made was not duly notified of the appointment of the arbitrator or of the arbitration procedure, or was unable to present his or her defense; 3) that the decision concerns a dispute not envisaged in the agreement between parties to submit to arbitration; 4) that the constitution of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitration procedure has not been carried in accordance with the terms of the agreement or in accordance with the law of the State in which the arbitration took place; and 5) that the decision is not yet binding on the parties or has been annulled or suspended by a competent authority of the State, and if it is proven that the dispute cannot be settled by arbitration under the law of that State or that the recognition or execution of the decision would be contrary to the public policy of that State.