Brazil has officially adopted the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitration Awards, also known as the New York Convention, with the deposit of an instrument of ratification on June 7, 2002 before the United Nations Organisation.

The New York Convention, which was ratified by more than 130 countries worldwide, is considered the most important multilateral convention in international arbitration law.

One of the most important points of the New York Convention is that it establishes that foreign arbitration awards shall be recognised and enforced without any retrial or re-examination of the original award.

The main objective of the New York Convention is to ensure the validity and the enforcement of foreign arbitration awards in a given jurisdiction. Accordingly, Brazilian arbitration awards will be recognised in countries where the New York Convention is in force.

Arbitration is not a new institute in the Brazilian legal system. On the contrary, even the first Brazilian Constitution of 1824 had provisions in relation to arbitration. Recently, Law n. 9.307/96 (Brazilian Arbitration Law) set out that foreign arbitration awards would be valid in Brazil only upon their confirmation before the Brazilian Supreme Court.

However, after the ratification of the New York Convention by Brazil, the confirmation of foreign arbitration awards by the Brazilian Supreme Court does not seem to be required anymore.