Enforcement Of Awards And Judgments In ‘Difficult' Countries

Most commodities contracts are cross border, often with one or more parties located in a country where gaining access or cooperation to enforce an arbitration award or court judgment can be challenging.

If your counterparty is in a 'difficult' country, is there any point in incurring the time and cost of pursuing a claim in arbitration or litigation against them at all? Alternatively, do you already have awards or judgments against parties that you have not found a way to enforce? Are they worth any more than the paper they are written on?

The most direct way to enforce an award or judgment is to find an asset which belongs to the defendant and obtain a court order in the country where it is located. But if you cannot find an asset, or if you do find an asset but it is located in a country where obtaining an attachment order over it is very difficult, or at best slow and expensive, the London court can provide additional enforcement weapons. In the right