In September 2022 the Law Commission of England and Wales published a consultation paper entitled “Review of the Arbitration Act 1996”. The full consultation is available from the Law Commission website via this link: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/review-of-the-arbitration-act-1996/.
The authors consider the possibility of changes to the Act and formulate 38 questions for consultation. Responses are invited by 15 December 2022.
Areas under consideration include:
- Confidentiality
- Independence of arbitrators and disclosure
- Discrimination
- Immunity of arbitrators
- Summary disposal of issues which lack merit
- Interim measures ordered by the court in support of arbitral proceedings
- Jurisdictional challenges, and
- Appeals on a point of law.
TECBAR has set up a committee to coordinate a response to the Paper. Any member who would like to provide a comment on the Law Commission’s proposals is encouraged to do so by contacting Ben Patten KC at b.patten@4newsquare.com.