Enforcing Arbitral Awards Against Sovereign States

15 July 2021

The Supreme Court has recently handed down a judgment providing guidance and clarity on the service of proceedings to enforce an arbitral award against a sovereign state, in the case of General Dynamics United Kingdom Ltd v The State of Libya. This affirmed the mandatory nature of Section 12(1) of the State Immunity Act 1978.

This means that an arbitration claim form or order granting permission to enforce the award must be served on a sovereign state’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, no matter how inconvenient or difficult this may be, unless the defendant state agrees to an alternative means of service.

To read the Seladore team’s full analysis of this judgment, please click here.