SIAC

The Singapore International Arbitration Centre ("SIAC") was established in 1991 and is one of the leading arbitral institutions in Asia. New SIAC arbitration rules (the “SIAC Rules”) came into effect as of 1 August 2016 and, unless otherwise agreed, apply to any arbitration commenced on or after that date. The SIAC Rules establish a Court of Arbitration (“Court”) which comprises a number of leading arbitration figures from around the world. The responsibilities of the Court include rendering decisions on challenges to arbitrators and jurisdictional challenges.

The SIAC Rules have an expedited arbitration procedure which a party can request the application of in cases where the amount in dispute does not exceed S$6,000,000, the parties so agree, or where there is exceptional urgency. If SIAC agrees to such a request the main consequence is that it is then provided with significant procedural discretion (irrespective of any contrary provisions in the arbitration agreement); including to appoint a sole arbitrator.

The SIAC Rules also include an emergency arbitrator procedure. Based on past experience, an emergency arbitrator can be appointed in 1-3 days following the application for the appointment of an emergency arbitrator (and payment of applicable fees). The President of the Court has responsibility for determining applications for expedited procedures and appointment of arbitrators and emergency arbitrators.

Further provisions were also introduced into the 2016 SIAC Rules in an effort to make SIAC arbitration even more efficient and streamlined. These include measures on joinder & consolidation of arbitrations and an innovative provision for the early dismissal of merit less claims or defences.

While the SIAC Rules now use terminology similar to that of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the SIAC Court exercises a more limited review function compared to its ICC counterpart. The SIAC secretariat engages in a limited form of review of arbitral awards to ensure basic formalities are satisfied and calculations are correct.

The SIAC charges a filing fee, administrative fee and collects the fees for the arbitrators. These fees and costs are calculated by way of set sum combined with a percentage of the amount involved in the dispute and are generally lower than those administered by the ICC. The SIAC Website has a costs calculator which will provide an indication of the likely fees.

If using the SIAC Rules, they give the tribunal a discretion whether to order discovery of documents. Our SIAC precedent 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 SIAC clause, wording providing for the presiding arbitrator to be appointed by the two party appointed arbitrators is included otherwise the President of the SIAC Court will, under the SIAC Rules, do so. This amendment therefore provides for the more streamlined approach that appointment by the other two arbitrators brings.