“Important Outcome in International Commerce”: Supreme Court Finds Foreign Third Parties Can Force Arbitration

June 3, 2020 — In a dispute between GE Energy Power Conversion France and Outokumpu Stainless USA, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a unanimous opinion holding that non-signatories to arbitration agreements can compel arbitration in the United States.  The Court found that the New York Convention, an international pact between 160 member countries to enforce arbitration agreements between member state companies, was silent as to whether non-signatories to such arbitration agreements could compel arbitration.  After acknowledging that the Convention was drafted to permit domestic law to fill the gaps left by the Convention and considering the historical application of the New York Convention, the Court saw no reason to prohibit non-signatories from enforcing applicable arbitration provisions.

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