Devas v. Antrix: Dutch Enforcement And The Limits Of Seat-Based Annulment

With the Dutch Supreme Court's 6 March 2026 dismissal of Antrix's cassation challenge, attention has once again turned to one of the most closely watched India-linked arbitration disputes in recent years. The dismissal leaves in place the Hague Court of Appeal's 17 December 2024 judgment in Devas Multimedia America Inc. v. Antrix Corporation Ltd., permitting enforcement in the Netherlands of the ICC award arising from the Devas-Antrix dispute, even though the award had been set aside at the seat in India.

Background

The dispute arose out of a 2005 Satellite Capacity Agreement ("Agreement") under which Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation, agreed to build, launch and operate satellites and lease S-band spectrum capacity on the satellites to Devas for multimedia services in India.¹ In 2011, after the Indian Government decided that the spectrum could no longer be allocated for the project, Antrix terminated the Agreement.²