Arbitration Act 1996
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| Long title | An Act to restate and improve the law relating to arbitration pursuant to an arbitration agreement; to make other provision relating to arbitration and arbitration awards; and for connected purposes. |
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| Citation | c.23 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales, Northern Ireland |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 17 June 1996 |
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Status: Repealed
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| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Text of the Arbitration Act 1996 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk | |
The Arbitration Act 1996 (c 23) is an Act of Parliament which regulates arbitration proceedings within the jurisdiction of England and Wales and Northern Ireland.
The 1996 Act only applies to parts of the United Kingdom. In Scotland the rules governing arbitrations are found in schedule 7 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 and are based upon the UNCITRAL Model Law.
The England and Wales is one of the very few developed jurisdictions in the world which has consciously elected not to follow the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. That is a position which has been subject of criticism.
The Act mandates that the general duty of the arbitral tribunal is to:
The various subsequent provisions relating to the conduct of arbitrations are largely pinned upon this overriding duty. The legislation specifies that "The tribunal shall comply with that general duty in conducting the arbitral proceedings, in its decisions on matters of procedure and evidence and in the exercise of all other powers conferred on it."
Subject to that overriding duty, the tribunal has broad discretion in relation to matters of procedure and evidence. The legislation provides that "It shall be for the tribunal to decide all procedural and evidential matters, subject to the right of the parties to agree any matter."
Procedural and evidential matters include:
The Act also imposes a duty on the parties to "do all things necessary for the proper and expeditious conduct of the arbitral proceedings."
If any legal proceedings are commenced against a party which are subject to an arbitration agreement, then the party may apply to the court for a stay of those legal proceedings, and the Act provides that the court "shall grant a stay unless [it is] satisfied that the arbitration agreement is null and void, inoperative, or incapable of being performed." However this provision does not apply to a domestic arbitration agreement. In such cases the court has a wider discretion whether or not to grant a stay including whether there are "other sufficient grounds" for not requiring the parties to abide by the arbitration agreement.
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