SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Simon Goh and Wang Ying Shuang, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP
Process To enforce a foreign judgment under the REFJA, the applicant must first register the foreign judgment in the General Division of the High Court. The application for registration is made by way of an OA, supported by an affidavit. For enforcement of a foreign judgment pursuant to the CCAA, an application would have to be made to the General Division of the High Court for the foreign judgment to be recognised or to be recognised and enforced. To enforce a judgment under common law, the appli- cant will have to commence a fresh civil claim in court for the judgment debt. 9.5 Enforcement of Arbitration Clauses Courts generally enforce arbitration provisions in commercial contracts of insurance and reinsurance. Courts have taken a generous approach to constru- ing arbitration clauses, and the rule of construction is that all disputes between parties are assumed to fall within the scope of the arbitration clause unless shown otherwise ( Silverlink Resorts Limited v MS First Capital Insurance Limited [2020] SGHC 251). 9.6 Enforcement of Awards Singapore is subject to the New York Convention as a result of its accession thereto in 1986. The Convention is encapsulated in Part III of the International Arbitra- tion Act 1994 (IAA). Arbitral awards handed down in other jurisdictions can be enforced pursuant to Section 29 of the IAA if they are made pursuant to an arbitration agreement in the territory of a Contracting State within the meaning of the Convention. Section 30 of the IAA elaborates on the evidence that a person seeking to enforce a foreign award by virtue of Part III of the IAA has to produce to the court. This includes, for example, the duly authenticated original award. Finally, the grounds upon which the Singapore court might refuse enforcement are provided for in Section 31 of the IAA. They include, for example, if a party to the arbitration agreement pursuant to which the award was made was under some incapacity at the
time when the agreement was made, or if a party was not given proper notice of the appointment of the arbi-
trator or of the arbitration proceedings. 9.7 Alternative Dispute Resolution
ADR is prevalent and strongly encouraged in Singa- pore. In fact, before the commencement of any civ- il court proceedings, and during the course of any action, parties have the duty to consider an amicable resolution of their dispute. The Rules of Court 2021 require a party to make an offer of amicable resolu- tion before commencing the action, unless the party has reasonable grounds not to do so. Failure to do so might lead to adverse cost orders against the successful party. In addition, efforts and attempts to reach an amicable resolution to a matter are taken into consideration by the courts when making the appro- priate costs awards for court proceedings. Apart from the avenues for ADR through FIDReC and the CCRP (see 9.1 Insurance Disputes Over Cover- age ), the following other forms of ADR are also avail- able in Singapore: • mediation, where a neutral third party (the media- tor) guides parties to find an amicable resolution – this is usually administered by the Singapore Mediation Centre or the Singapore International Mediation Centre; • conciliation, where a neutral third party with exper- tise in the subject matter suggests possible solu- tions and the parties involved can try to come to an agreement based on these suggestions; • neutral evaluation, where a neutral third party with expertise in the subject matter provides an early assessment of the case and estimates the likeli- hood of success at trial – this is currently only available for matters heard in the State courts; • arbitration; and • expert determination, where an independent expert will give an opinion and the parties involved can decide whether they agree to a settlement based on the expert’s opinion – this is currently only for cases heard in the Supreme Court involving an expert’s opinion. Mediation at FIDReC (which is only available to insureds who are individuals or sole proprietors) and
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