SIAC revises its Practice Notes | Practical Law

SIAC revises its Practice Notes | Practical Law

Alvin Yeo, Senior Counsel (Senior Partner) and Andre Maniam (Head of Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department), WongPartnership LLP

SIAC revises its Practice Notes

Practical Law Legal Update 3-386-3310 (Approx. 2 pages)

SIAC revises its Practice Notes

Published on 01 Jul 2009 • International, Singapore
Alvin Yeo, Senior Counsel (Senior Partner) and Andre Maniam (Head of Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department), WongPartnership LLP
In April 2009, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre revised and replaced its Practice Notes in relation to administered cases and cases under the UNCITRAL rules.
The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) has revised the following practice notes:
  • Practice Note on the Appointment of Arbitrators, Arbitrators' Fees and Financial Management for Administered Cases (PN-01/07, dated 1 July 2007).
  • Practice Note on the Appointment of Arbitrators, Arbitrators' Fees and Financial Management for Ad Hoc Cases (PN-02/07, dated 1 July 2007).
  • Practice Note on Case Administration, Appointment of Arbitrators and Financial Management for Cases under the UNCITRAL Rules (PN-03/07 dated 1 July 2007).
PN-01/07 and PN-02/07 have been replaced into a single consolidated Practice Note: PN-01/09 dated 1 April 2009 (Practice Note on the Appointment of Arbitrators, Arbitrators' Fees and Financial Management for Administered Cases). PN-03/07 has been replaced with PN-02/09 dated 6 April 2009 (Practice Note on Case Administration, Appointment of Arbitrators and Financial Management for Cases under the UNCITRAL Rules).
The key changes effected by these new Practice Notes are briefly as follows:
  • The requirement that SIAC carry out a conflict of interest audit before an arbitrator is appointed to an arbitration tribunal has been removed. The new Practice Notes simply provide for the arbitrators to make a declaration of independence and impartiality and to disclose facts that may give rise to justifiable doubts about the same.
  • Where exceptional circumstances used to be required for the Registrar of the SIAC to require parties to make interim payments to the arbitrator, they may now be required under "appropriate circumstances". This will allow the payment of interim payments to be made under a wider range of circumstances.