As we reported briefly last week in Legal update, Fiona Trust - Lords dismiss appeal, in the well known Fiona Trust case, the House of Lords has held that claims to rescind charterparties on the basis of bribery fell within the scope of a charterparty arbitration clause. Further, those allegations did not directly impeach the arbitration agreement (as opposed to the main charter) and therefore did not affect the parties' obligations to arbitrate their disputes.

The opinions of the Lords are notable for their clear endorsement of a "fresh start" on issues of construction of arbitration agreements. Rather than a detailed consideration of the wording of particular clauses, the starting point now is a strong presumption that commercial parties intend all disputes to be determined in a single forum. In effect, disputes will fall outside the scope of an arbitration clause only if excluded expressly or by clear implication. The Lords' approach to the separability of the arbitration clause also reflects international commercial expectations: only if there is evidence which directly impeaches the arbitration agreement itself (rather than the contract as a whole) will the parties' obligation to arbitrate be affected.