HKIAC

The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre ("HKIAC") is one of the leading arbitral institutions in Asia. It was established in 1985 and is an independent institution that administers arbitrations and other dispute resolution activities, including mediation and adjudication. 

In 2018, it released 2018 Administered Arbitration Rules (the “2018 HKIAC Rules”) which came into force on 1 November 2018.

The 2018 HKIAC Rules bring in further refinement and improvement on HKIAC’s 2013 Administered Arbitration Rules to promote the efficient conduct of arbitrations. One significant new procedure is that parties may ask the tribunal to apply an early determination procedure to points of law or fact on the basis that they are without merit, manifestly outside the tribunal’s jurisdiction, or where even if such points of law or fact are assumed to be correct, no award could be rendered in favour of the submitting party. If the tribunal grants the request for early determination, parties may expect the request be disposed of within 90 days. Tribunals are now required to issue their award within three months from the close of the proceedings.

Parties requiring urgent relief may be attracted by the 2018 HKIAC Rules which allows a party to appoint an emergency arbitrator before filing of a notice of arbitration, and if the HKIAC accepts an emergency arbitrator application, it shall seek to appoint the arbitrator within 24 hours. 

Where the same arbitral tribunal is constituted in more than one arbitration and a common question of law or fact arises, the 2018 HKIAC Rules empower the arbitral tribunal to, on its own motion after consulting with the parties, conduct one or more arbitrations at the same time, or one immediately after another, or suspend any of those arbitrations.  The arbitrations need not involve identical parties, and the tribunal may exercise these powers without parties’ consent.

On 1 February 2019, amendments were made to the Hong Kong Arbitration Ordinance to allow third party funding in arbitration, and the 2018 HKIAC Rules introduced requirements for parties to disclose the existence of such funding agreement and the identify of any third party funder.

As of 1 June 2024 a revised (2024) version of the HKIAC rules is due to come into force which will introduce new measures to further increase efficiency and address current trends in sustainable arbitration (click here for more).

Unlike other rules, the HKIAC Rules offer the parties a choice, exercised at the outset of the arbitration proceedings, regarding the determination of the tribunal's fees which may be calculated either as a percentage of the amount in dispute, or on the basis of agreed hourly rates. The HKIAC Website has a fees calculator which will provide an indication of the likely fees.

If using the HKIAC Rules, the HKIAC rules give the tribunal a discretion whether to order discovery of documents. Our HKIAC Clauses exclude the tribunal’s power to order general discovery (on the grounds that the saving in time and cost makes up for the few cases where general discovery might have changed the outcome). Consider whether this will be appropriate in your case before including these words.

In the three arbitrator HKIAC clause, wording providing for the presiding arbitrator to be appointed by the two party appointed arbitrators is not included as the HKIAC rules themselves do this.