New Zealand state immunity in arbitration: restrictive doctrine, tribunal jurisdiction, court recognition and enforcement, and ICSID award recognition versus execution immunity

Published by a LexisNexis Arbitration expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note surveys New Zealand’s law on state immunity in general terms before moving to the two scenarios noted above. For an overview of arbitration in New Zealand, see Arbitration in New Zealand—an introduction. For approaches to challenging the jurisdiction of arbitration awards more broadly, see Practice Note: Challenging jurisdiction and anti-suit provisions in New Zealand.

State immunity can be pertinent to arbitration in two ways:

a challenge to the arbitral tribunal’s jurisdiction grounded in state immunity, or
a challenge to enforcement of the arbitration award relying on state immunity

The application of state immunity to investment arbitration awards under the Arbitration (International Investment Disputes) Act 1979 is addressed separately below.

Note: New Zealand judgments below are not reported by LexisNexis®.

State immunity in New Zealand: generally

A state named as a defendant may dispute the court’s jurisdiction by invoking state immunity. The doctrine rests on comity and international law, because the assertion of national court jurisdiction over a state is regarded as incompatible with the dignity and independence of the international state (Governor of Pitcairn and Associated Islands v Sutton [1995] 1 NZLR 426 (CA))...

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Polly Pope

Bankside Chambers

Polly is a leading New Zealand commercial barrister. Her practice spans construction, insolvency, class action, property, company and commercial disputes. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of New Zealand, a recipient of the Sir Ronald Davison Award for excellence in arbitral award writing, and a member of AMINZ's Arbitration Appeals Tribunal....

Amelia Cina

Russell McVeagh

Amelia is a Senior Solicitor in the Russell McVeagh litigation team and has acted for clients on a broad range of public and commercial disputes. Amelia has also taught courses on legal writing and mooting as a Teaching Fellow at Victoria University of Wellington. Prior to commencing private practice Amelia clerked for Justice Cooke at the New Zealand High Court and worked as a research assistant to Professor Campbell McLachlan KC providing research support for his book on systematic integration in international law and Dicey Morris and Collins on the Conflict of Laws....

Nadia Murray-Ragg

Bankside Chambers

Nadia is an employed barrister at Bankside Chambers based in Auckland, New Zealand. Her practice focuses on commercial litigation, arbitration (domestic and international) and public law claims. In New Zealand, she has appeared in the Supreme Court, High Court, District Court and arbitral tribunals. She has represented clients in the Building Disputes Tribunal and at mediation.Before joining Bankside Chambers, Nadia worked in legal research as a Judge’s Clerk in the High Court at Wellington for two years. While at university, Nadia worked for the law school as a researcher and as an editor of the Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, New Zealand Women’s Law Journal, and Public Interest Law Journal of New Zealand. Nadia has published in the New Zealand Women’s Law Journal and is an Associate Editor there. She has presented on evidence admissibility laws at the Law and Gender: Beyond...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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