Amendments to the Singapore International Arbitration Act

On 5 October 2020, the Singapore Parliament passed a bill (the “Bill”) to amend the International Arbitration Act (Cap 143A) (the “IAA”). The Bill will now be scrutinised by the Presidential Council for Minority Rights, and then presented to the President for her assent, after which the Bill will come into operation on a date that the Minister appoints by notification in the Gazette.

The amendments follow a public consultation conducted by the Singapore Ministry of Law (the “Consultation”). In this note, we discuss the recent amendments, some proposals from the Consultation that did not find their way into the Bill, and provide a comparison with the equivalent legislation in certain key jurisdictions in Asia, such as Hong Kong SAR, Korea and Japan.