International Arbitration Act

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Coming into Force: 31 December 2002
• Act Number: (Original Enactment: Act 23 of 1994)
• Enactment Date: 27 January 1995
• Record Number: Cap. 143A
• Published date: 31 December 2002

International Arbitration Act

(CHAPTER 143A)

(Original Enactment: Act 23 of 1994)

REVISED EDITION 2002

(31st December 2002)

An Act to make provision for the conduct of international commercial arbitrations based on the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and conciliation proceedings and to give effect to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and for matters connected therewith.

[27th January 1995]

PART I PRELIMINARY Short title 1. This Act may be cited as the International Arbitration Act.

PART II INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION Interpretation of Part II 2.—(1) In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires — “arbitral tribunal” means a sole arbitrator or a panel of arbitrators or a permanent arbitral institution, and includes an emergency arbitrator appointed pursuant to the rules of arbitration agreed to or adopted by the parties including the rules of arbitration of an institution or organisation; [Act 12 of 2012 wef 01/06/2012] “appointing authority” means the authority designated under section 8(2) or (3); “arbitration agreement” means an arbitration agreement referred to in section 2A; [Act 12 of 2012 wef 01/06/2012] “award” means a decision of the arbitral tribunal on the substance of the dispute and includes any interim, interlocutory or partial award but excludes any orders or directions made under section 12; [Deleted by Act 12 of 2012 wef 01/06/2012] [Deleted by Act 12 of 2012 wef 01/06/2012] “Model Law” means the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 21st June 1985, the text in English of which is set out in the First Schedule; “party” means a party to an arbitration agreement or, in any case where an arbitration does not involve all of the parties to the arbitration agreement, means a party to the arbitration. [38/2001] (2) Except so far as the contrary intention appears, a word or expression that is used both in this Part and in the Model Law (whether or not a particular meaning is given to it by the Model Law) has, in the Model Law, the same meaning as it has in this Part. (3) [Deleted by Act 12 of 2012 wef 01/06/2012] (4) [Deleted by Act 12 of 2012 wef 01/06/2012] Definition and form of arbitration agreement 2A.—(1) In this Act, “arbitration agreement” means an agreement by the parties to submit to arbitration all or certain disputes which have arisen or which may arise between them in respect of a defined legal relationship, whether contractual or not. (2) An arbitration agreement may be in the form of an arbitration clause in a contract or in the form of a separate agreement. (3) An arbitration agreement shall be in writing. (4) An arbitration agreement is in writing if its content is recorded in any form, whether or not the arbitration agreement or contract has been concluded orally, by conduct or by other means. (5) The requirement that an arbitration agreement shall be in writing is satisfied by an electronic communication if the information contained therein is accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference. (6) Where in any arbitral or legal proceedings, a party asserts the existence of an arbitration agreement in a pleading, statement of case or any other document in circumstances in which the assertion calls for a reply and the assertion is not denied, there shall be deemed to be an effective arbitration agreement as between the parties to the proceedings. (7) A reference in a contract to any document containing an arbitration clause shall constitute an arbitration agreement in writing if the reference is such as to make that clause part of the contract. (8) A reference in a bill of lading to a charterparty or other document containing an arbitration clause shall constitute an arbitration agreement in writing if the reference is such as to make that clause part of the bill of lading. (9) Article 7 of the Model Law shall not apply to this section. (10) In this section — “data message” means information generated, sent, received or stored by electronic, magnetic, optical or similar means, including, but not limited to, electronic data interchange (EDI), electronic mail, telegram, telex or telecopy; “electronic communication” means any communication that the parties make by means of data messages. [Act 12 of 2012 wef 01/06/2012] Model Law to have force of law 3.—(1) Subject to this Act, the Model Law, with the exception of Chapter VIII thereof, shall have the force of law in Singapore. (2) In the Model Law — “State” means Singapore and any country other than Singapore; “this State” means Singapore. Interpretation of Model Law by use of extrinsic material 4.—(1) For the purposes of interpreting the Model Law, reference may be made to the documents of — (a) the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law; and (b) its working group for the preparation of the Model Law, relating to the Model Law. (2) Subsection (1) shall not affect the application of section 9A of the Interpretation Act (Cap. 1) for the purposes of interpreting this Act. Application of Part II 5.—(1) This Part and the Model Law shall not apply to an arbitration which is not an international arbitration unless the parties agree in writing that this Part or the Model Law shall apply to that arbitration. (2) Notwithstanding Article 1(3) of the Model Law, an arbitration is international if — (a) at least one of the parties to an arbitration agreement, at the time of the conclusion of the agreement, has its place of business in any State other than Singapore; or (b) one of the following places is situated outside the State in which the parties have their places of business: (i) the place of arbitration if determined in, or pursuant to, the arbitration agreement; (ii) any place where a substantial part of the obligations of the commercial relationship is to be performed or the place with which the subject-matter of the dispute is most closely connected; or (c) the parties have expressly agreed that the subject-matter of the arbitration agreement relates to more than one country. (3) For the purposes of subsection (2) — (a) if a party has more than one place of business, the place of business shall be that which has the closest relationship to the arbitration agreement; (b) if a party does not have a place of business, a reference to his place of business shall be construed as a reference to his habitual residence. (4) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the Arbitration Act (Cap. 10), that Act shall not apply to any arbitration to which this Part applies. Enforcement of international arbitration agreement 6.—(1) Notwithstanding Article 8 of the Model Law, where any party to an arbitration agreement to which this Act applies institutes any proceedings in any court against any other party to the agreement in respect of any matter which is the subject of the agreement, any party to the agreement may, at any time after appearance and before delivering any pleading or taking any other step in the proceedings, apply to that court to stay the proceedings so far as the proceedings relate to that matter. [38/2001] (2) The court to which an application has been made in accordance with subsection (1) shall make an order, upon such terms or conditions as it may think fit, staying the proceedings so far as the proceedings relate to the matter, unless it is satisfied that the arbitration agreement is null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed. [38/2001] (3) Where a court makes an order under subsection (2), the court may, for the purpose of preserving the rights of parties, make such interim or supplementary orders as it may think fit in relation to any property which is the subject of the dispute to which the order under that subsection relates. (4) Where no party to the proceedings has taken any further step in the proceedings for a period of not less than 2 years after an order staying the proceedings has been made, the court may, on its own motion, make an order discontinuing the proceedings without prejudice to the right of any of the parties to apply for the discontinued proceedings to be reinstated. [38/2001] (5) For the purposes of this section and sections 7 and 11A — (a) a reference to a party shall include a reference to any person claiming through or under such party; (b) “court” means the High Court, District Court, Magistrate’s Court or any other court in which proceedings are instituted. [38/2001] Court’s powers on stay of proceedings 7.—(1) Where a court stays proceedings under section 6, the court may, if in those proceedings property has been arrested or bail or other security has been given to prevent or obtain release from arrest, order — (a) that the property arrested be retained as security for the satisfaction of any award made on the arbitration; or (b) that the stay be conditional on the provision of equivalent security for the satisfaction of any such award. [38/2001] (2) Subject to Rules of Court and to any necessary modification, the same law and practice shall apply in relation to property retained in pursuance of an order under this section as would apply if it were held for the purposes of proceedings in the court which made the order. Authorities specified for purposes of Article 6 of Model Law 8.—(1) The High Court in Singapore shall be taken to have been specified in Article 6 of the Model Law as courts competent to perform the functions referred to in that Article except for Article 11(3) and (4) of the Model Law. (2) The President of the Court of Arbitration of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre shall be taken to have been specified as the authority competent to perform the functions under Article 11(3) and (4) of the Model Law. [38/2001] [Act 16 of 2016 wef 01/08/2016] (3) The Chief Justice may, if he thinks fit, by notification published in the Gazette, appoint any other person to exercise the powers of the President ...