| A legal issue on whether or not the foreign arbitral awards of punitive damages should be recognized and enforced emerged during the process of the application for recognition and enforcement in the US of the arbitral award of No.0517 decided by China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission(1997).This legal issue was posed for the first time in China while for the second time in the US according to the data that has been retrieved.The issue whether or not the foreign arbitral awards of punitive damages should be recognized and enforced was first posed in the judicial review,by United States District Court,N.D.Georgia,Ncwnan Division,of the arbitral award of the punitive damages of which the Southwire company in the US filed an action seeking vacation,against LTC1,a company in France.According to the award of punitive damages,made by the International Court of Arbitration of International Chamber of Commerce(ICC) in 1979,Southwirc should pay LTCL the aggregate amount of underpayments plus the interest,as well as the punitive interest if it delayed in carrying out the award. According to the court of Georgia,Newnan Division,the award of the interest if payment was delayed,ordered by ICC according to French law,was in nature of penalty and would not be recognized and enforced,On January 18,1980,the court of Georgia, Newnan Division entered a judgment according to which the punitive part of the award made by ICC would not be enforced and a judicial precedent was made accordingly.The second case is the enforcement of the arbitral award of the Liaoning SG Automotive Group Co.Ltd.(It's name was Dandong Shuguang Axle Company,Ltd. when the arbitration was applied for,hereby referred to as" SG company").V.Lliance Mechanical Company(hereby referred to as "Lliance Company",alias).In this case, the arbitration tribunal ordered the Lliance Company to return twice of the deposit. According to United States District Court for The Northern District of California,the award of the return of twice of the deposit was in nature of penalty and the enforcement of such an award was not against the public policy of the US.On June 1,2001,United States District Court for The Northern District of California entered a judgment that the arbitral award of No.0517 was enforceable in the US,and thus negated the principle established in the case of the preceding paragraph that the arbitral award of punitive damages should not be recognized and enforced.This case is a landmark in the judicial history of the US.This article introduces the study on several legal issues relating to the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards base on the case of the enforcement of the arbitral award of SG company.V.Lliance Company,and specially discusses the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards of punitive damages.The article includes a preamble and three chapters.Chapter one introduces the legal system of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.This chapter includes three sections.Section one mainly discuss the definition of foreign arbitral awards derived from the international treaties,documents of international law,and domestic legislations of various countries.Section two introduces the studies of the legal system of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral award,discusses the economic and legal basis of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and certain related international documents.Section three expounds the legislations and practice on recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in China.According to the study,since the establishment of the legal system of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards with United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards as a core in 1958,for about 50 years 'development and improvement,a perfect legal system have established and thus the arbitral awards within the framework of the convention can be recognized and enforced in most of the countries.Chapter two discusses the legal issues of the conditions of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.This chapter includes two sections.Section one discusses the legal issues relating to taking judicial proceedings for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards,posing several legal issues that should be taken into account when taking judicial proceedings for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.Section two studies the legal issues of the conditions of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and mainly discusses the validity of the arbitration agreement and the public policy.Chapter three introduces the enforceability of the arbitral awards of punitive damages.This chapter includes three sections.Section one investigates the origin and development of the system of punitive damages with the system of punitive damages of the US as the focus,and introduces the case of the enforcement of the award of No.0517 which pose the issue whether or not the arbitral award of punitive damages is enforceable.Section two investigates the recognition and enforcement of the award of punitive damages,and studies the theory and practice on the issue whether or not the arbitrator has the power to award punitive damages,especially the positive and negative opinions on the issue in the US,and concludes the enforceability of the arbitral award of punitive damages in the case of the enforcement of the arbitral award of SG company.V. Lliance Company considering the game of enforceability and unenforceability of the award of punitive damages.Section three investigates the legal system of punitive damages of China,studies the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in China,and also discusses the legal issues of the system of punitive damages of China such as whether the deposit is punitive damages in nature,whether the arbitrator has the power to award punitive damages and whether the foreign arbitral awards of punitive damages should be recognized and enforced in China.
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