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Page Number: 9

6 

GE ENERGY POWER CONVERSION FRANCE SAS 
v. OUTOKUMPU STAINLESS USA, LLC 
Opinion of the Court 

[Chapter 1] is not in conflict with this chapter or the Con-
vention.”  §208. 

III 
We must determine whether the equitable estoppel doc-
trines permitted under Chapter 1 of the FAA, see supra, at 
3–4, “conflict with . . . the Convention.”  §208.  Applying fa-
miliar tools of treaty interpretation, we conclude that they 
do not conflict. 

A 
“The interpretation of a treaty, like the interpretation of
a statute, begins with its text.”  Medellín v. Texas, 552 U. S. 
491, 506 (2008).  The text of the New York Convention does 
not  address  whether  nonsignatories  may  enforce  arbitra-
tion agreements under domestic doctrines such as equitable
estoppel.  The  Convention  is  simply  silent  on the  issue  of 
nonsignatory  enforcement,  and  in  general,  “a  matter  not
covered is to be treated as not covered”—a principle “so ob-
vious that it seems absurd to recite it,” A. Scalia & B. Gar-
ner,  Reading  Law:  The  Interpretation  of  Legal  Texts  93 
(2012).

This  silence  is  dispositive  here  because  nothing  in  the
text of the Convention could be read to otherwise prohibit 
the  application  of  domestic  equitable  estoppel  doctrines.
Only  one  Article  of  the  Convention  addresses  arbitration
agreements—Article II—and only one provision of Article II
addresses  the  enforcement  of  those  agreements—Article
II(3).  The text of Article II(3) states that courts of a con-
tracting  state  “shall  . . .  refer  the  parties  to  arbitration” 
when the parties to an action entered into a written agree-
ment to arbitrate and one of the parties requests referral to
arbitration.  The provision, however, does not restrict con-
tracting states from applying domestic law to refer parties 
to arbitration in other circumstances.  That is, Article II(3)
provides  that  arbitration  agreements  must  be  enforced  in