Introduction France is an arbitration-friendly jurisdiction with a positive attitude towards enforcement of international arbitral awards. The enactment of Decree 2011-48 of 13 January 2011, which reformed French arbitration law, reinforced this positive approach. One of the major innovations of Decree 2011-48 was Article 1526 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC). Pursuant to said article, a motion to set aside an international arbitral award or an appeal against an order granting such award's enforcement ( exequatur) no longer leads to an automatic stay of execution of the international arbitral award. However, this innovation is accompanied by an important safeguard: if the international award's enforcement is likely to severely harm the rights of one of the parties, the first president of the court of appeal ruling in expedite proceedings or the pre-trial judge overseeing the case, once appointed, may stay or amend the award's enforcement (Article 1526(2)).(1)