Hong Kong Court Refuses Set Aside, Rejects Public Policy Challenge

In Paloma Co. Ltd. v. Capxon Electronic Industrial Co. Ltd [[2018] HKCFI 1147], the Hong Kong Court of First Instance rejected a public policy challenge to a New York Convention Award rendered by a tribunal in Japan. The Respondent applied to set aside leave to enforce the Award, alleging that the tribunal’s conduct was biased, and violated basic concepts of morality, justice and public policy.

Deputy Judge Keith Yeung found that there was no evidence of bias on the part of the tribunal, nor any error or matter which would warrant setting aside the award. Yeung DJ relied on Hebei Import & Export Corp. v Polytek Engineering Co. Ltd. [(1999) 2 HKCFAR 111] to reiterate that, in order to refuse enforcement of an award under the New York Convention, the award must be so fundamentally offensive to the jurisdiction’s notions of morality and justice that this could not reasonably be overlooked. In the absence of such conflict, the Court would not look into the merits, nor