Understanding And Application Of The Public Policy Clause Of The New York Convention In Our Courts

International commercial arbitration is an important means of international commercial dispute resolution today.The effective enforcement of arbitral awards is of great significance to the healthy development of international commercial arbitration.Since the recognition and enforcement of an arbitral award involves the legal order and social and economic interests of a country,the public policy clause in the New York Convention is still necessary due to the differences in legal and cultural traditions and social systems of different countries.The public policy clause has been a traditional method in the field of private international law to exclude the application of foreign laws and deny the validity of foreign arbitral awards or judgments,and its development and soundness is of great significance in promoting the healthy development of the international commercial arbitration system and maintaining the judicial authority of each country.To this end,the author discusses the significance of this provision for the legislation and practice of commercial arbitration in China from the perspective of the New York Convention,with a view to providing some reference for the development of commercial arbitration in China.The first part briefly discusses the concept,characteristics and role of public policy in international commercial arbitration,and theoretically analyzes the laws and judicial practices of the New York Convention Contracting States regarding public policy and explores its status and functions in international commercial arbitration.The second part examines the relevant legal provisions on public policy review in China,collects and integrates the cases of foreign arbitral awards based on public policy that have been subject to judicial review in Chinese courts after China’s accession to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards(hereinafter referred to as the New York Convention),and summarizes the problems that exist in the application of public policy in the New York Convention by Chinese courts.The third part provides in-depth analysis of the specific problems found in the case statistics respectively,and analyzes whether the existing legislation and practice in China are reasonable in the way of determination in light of the typical cases combined with the legislation and practice of other countries.Finally,based on the above analysis,this paper puts forward relevant suggestions to improve the current deficiencies in the application of the public policy provisions in the New York Convention by domestic judicial authorities.As a party to the New York Convention,there are still many shortcomings in the study of public policy clauses in China in terms of theory and practice.However,with the recognition of international commercial arbitration,we should be fully aware of the importance of public policy as a system.Public policy clauses can serve as a "safety valve" to prevent foreign arbitral awards from causing unnecessary damage to China,while safeguarding the public interest of China.This requires China to increase the theoretical and practical efforts on the public policy clause in order to expand its scope and application.