The recognition and
enforcement stage may be the clearest example of interaction between
international arbitration and economic sanctions. From a legal perspective,
economic sanctions may lead to a domestic court’s refusal to recognize an
award, most notably on the grounds of international public policy or, even,
lack of jurisdiction. The refusal to recognize the award leads ipso jure to the
refusal to enforce the award. However, economic sanctions can also lead to the
refusal to enforce an international arbitration award irrespective of the
recognition of the award by the relevant state. Economic sanctions targeting
the award debtor or the award creditor in the country where enforcement is
sought will in all likelihood bar enforcement, either because the provision of
resources to the sanctioned award creditor is prohibited or because the assets
of the sanctioned award debtor are frozen. Without aiming for
comprehensiveness, this article considers various scenarios in which economic sanctions
interact with the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards.