INTRODUCTION

Art. 49 is the second of two Articles in the Convention's Section 4 of Chapter IV entitled “The Award”. This Article deals with two diverse questions. Paragraph 1 addresses the modality of the award's transmission to the parties and the date of the award. Paragraph 2 deals with the award's supplementation and the rectification by the tribunal of technical errors in the award. Supplementation and rectification may be seen as one of several post-award procedures and remedies. These also include interpretation, revision and annulment. Interestingly, supplementation and rectification are not grouped with these measures. The latter are placed in a separate Section 5 entitled “Interpretation, Revision and Annulment of the Award”.

INTERPRETATION

“(1) The Secretary-General shall promptly dispatch certified copies of the award to the parties.”

A formal procedure for the delivery of a decision to the parties is part of an orderly judicial process. Rules governing international adjudication variously provide for oral delivery in open court or a mere notification of the decision's text.

The Preliminary Draft to the Convention only provided that the award shall be immediately communicated to the parties (History, Vol. I, p. 214). Subsequent discussions led to the conclusion that this task should be entrusted specifically to the Secretary-General (History, Vol. II, pp. 268, 272; Vol. I, p. 216).