When is an electronic arbitral award an “original”?

When the New York Convention was drafted in 1958, an “original” award meant one thing: ink on paper.

Seven decades on, insisting on physical copies in an era of digital proceedings creates unnecessary friction at the enforcement stage. UNCITRAL’s latest texts address this directly.

The core principle is straightforward: electronic awards should not face procedural hurdles simply because of their format, provided their integrity and accessibility remain verifiable.

Crucially, the Convention itself remains untouched. UNCITRAL has issued an interpretative recommendation rather than an amendment, meaning domestic courts and Model Law jurisdictions will still need to align their local practice with this approach.

It is a sensible step. Cross border commerce moved away from paper years ago; enforcement mechanisms are finally doing the same.

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