The Singapore International Arbitration Centre ('SIAC') Hearing Room and the SIAC Domestic Arbitration Rules were officially launched by the Honourable Chief Justice Yong Pung How on 4 May 2001.
Since the SIAC started operation in 1991 as a non-profit organisation, its main focus has been the promotion of international arbitration in Singapore. SIAC provides the international business community a forum for the resolution of their disputes which is more conveniently located than the traditional arbitration centres in Europe and America. It also enables disputes to be resolved at much less cost. Most of the cases handled by the SIAC are international cases.
Recent years, however, have seen a marked, if not phenomenal, growth in domestic arbitration, that is, arbitration involving only Singapore parties, or non-Singaporean parties who carry on business in Singapore. Domestic cases administered by the SIAC now account for more than a third of the caseload of the Centre.
The volume of domestic cases outside the purview of the Centre has also grown exponentially. But almost all these cases are so-called 'ad hoc' arbitrations, meaning that they are managed entirely by the parties themselves and their arbitrator, without any institutional involvement. The parties agree on whom to appoint as their arbitrator. On being appointed, the arbitrator and the parties work out a set of procedures and timetable for the further progress of the arbitration. In such a party-managed arbitration, until the arbitrator is appointed, the case cannot go on, as there are no procedural rules for the parties to follow. A delay in: the appointment of the arbitrator; the arbitrator giving procedural directions; or taking other steps, particularly where there is a reluctant party, can cause significant delay to the case.
'I was thinking about this problem of delays,' said Mr Warren Khoo, who took over as Chairman of the Centre on his retirement from the High Court in August 1999. 'It struck me that the reason why nothing could be done in a party-managed arbitration until the arbitrator was appointed was the lack of a mechanism to enable things to move forward before the arbitrator was appointed. If court proceedings, even up to trial, could go on without a judge having been assigned to the case, there was no reason why arbitration could not proceed automatically before the arbitrator was appointed. SIAC could provide the missing mechanism.'
The new Domestic Rules of the SIAC will make it possible for the parties themselves, with the support of the SIAC, to make significant progress in their arbitration even before the arbitrator is appointed. They can start the arbitration by simply filing a notice with the Centre. After that, the rules require them to file their case statements automatically within clearly defined time limits. When the arbitrator is appointed, he promptly gives procedural directions to take the arbitration to hearing and conclusion. The rules thus provide clear guideposts for all the steps that have to be taken. In this and other ways, they enable an arbitration to proceed to conclusion in an orderly, an expeditious and a cost-effective way. If a claim is clear-cut, there is a summary procedure for an award to be obtained quickly, in the same way as a summary judgment is available in the courts.
The domestic rules are designed to be user-friendly. Parties do not need any elaborately drafted clauses in their contracts. If both parties agree to refer the dispute to arbitration at the SIAC and their case is a domestic one, the new rules will automatically apply to their arbitration. Even if they have already started a court case, they can also agree to stop the court case and go to the SIAC for arbitration, using the documents they have filed in court for the arbitration. Of practical importance, Mr Khoo also pointed out that the fees charged by the Centre for administering domestic cases are set at a very moderate level, compared to those charged for international cases and those charged by other arbitration institutions.
'With all that they have to offer, it seems to me that arbitration at the SIAC under these rules has every reason to be considered as a preferred alternative to ad hoc arbitration, and to litigation,' said the Chief Justice at the launch.
Mr Khoo further said that:
These rules will enable SIAC to play a bigger and more significant role on the domestic arbitration front. With more cases coming to the Centre, we can appoint more and more of our talented people to act as arbitrators. The rules will help us monitor performance and set standards. They will help us to develop a strong local expertise and help our arbitrators to move on to play a more active role on the international level.
Mr Khoo added, however, that the enhanced role of the SIAC in domestic arbitration did not diminish, in any way, its interest in international arbitration. He said that there was no shift in emphasis, only an extension of interest and activity.
In keeping with its role of providing support to arbitral proceedings, SIAC has established a new enlarged Hearing Room on the third level of the City Hall Building, to accommodate the increasing number of large arbitration cases that come to the Centre for resolution. SIAC also provides other support facilities, including audio and video recording facilities, parties' meeting and tribunal's retiring rooms and secretarial, transcription and interpretation services. The Hearing Room, with these associated facilities, has already received unqualified praise from its users and visitors. In fact, no sooner than the completion of renovation works and fittings in July 2000 was the SIAC Hearing Room used for a three-week ICC arbitration. For the ten months after its completion, the hearing room was and will be heavily booked for numerous long and massive arbitration hearings, involving parties, counsel and arbitrators from Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Brunei, Australia and the PRC, UK and US. Its official opening marks a step forward in the development of SIAC's capabilities in serving its users.
Ang Yong Tong
Singapore International Arbitration Centre