The enforcement of arbitral awards against States has once again become a focal point of international legal debate following the proceedings initiated to enforce compensation awards arising from the arbitrations concerning Spain's renewable energy regime reforms.
In this article, published in Diario LA LEY, Rosario Bustillo and Marcos D'Alessandro examine the limits of sovereign immunity at the enforcement stage of arbitral awards, as well as the conditions that must be satisfied before State assets may be subject to attachment or enforcement measures, using the Blasket case and the proceedings brought against Spain as a reference point.
The article addresses one of the most significant challenges in international arbitration: obtaining a favourable arbitral award does not necessarily guarantee recovery. Enforcing an award against a State requires determining whether the assets in question genuinely belong to the State and whether, by virtue of their nature and purpose, they qualify as commercial assets—the only category of State property generally capable of being enforced against under international law and the legal frameworks applicable in jurisdictions such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain.
The publication highlights the legal complexity surrounding the enforcement of arbitral awards against sovereign States and provides a rigorous analysis of the balance between ensuring the effective enforcement of arbitral decisions and safeguarding the protections afforded by the principle of sovereign immunity.
Reed the full article here.
Access the Spanish version here.
