The power of attorney granted by a party to counsel for institutional arbitration proceedings is equivalent to that issued for ordinary civil proceedings and confers upon such counsel the ius postulandi (right of audience) for subsequent enforcement proceedings based on the award and for any opposition proceedings, unless there is express limitation of the powers conferred.
A final arbitral award constitutes an enforcement title not only in favour of the arbitrators for recovery of their fees, but also in favour of the party that has advanced procedural costs due from the opposing party, in application of the principle of equivalence between awards and judgments of judicial authorities pursuant to Article 824-bis of the Code of Civil Procedure.
In opposition to enforcement based on a final arbitral award, it is inadmissible to raise the defence of set-off in relation to claims that arose prior to the formation of the enforcement title and which could and should have been pleaded during the arbitration proceedings, the same principles applying as those established for judicially-formed titles.
In proceedings for opposition to enforcement of arbitral awards, territorial jurisdiction is determined by the place where enforcement takes place pursuant to Article 27 of the Code of Civil Procedure, this being a mandatory jurisdiction under Article 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure, even where the company's articles of association provide for arbitration clauses for other types of disputes.