MALTA Law and Practice Contributed by: Antoine Cremona, Louis Cassar Pullicino, Clement Mifsud-Bonnici and Yasmine Ellul, Ganado Advocates
9. Confidentiality 9.1 Extent of Confidentiality There are no provisions relating to confidentiality in the Act. However, when the Rules apply – whether in domes - tic arbitrations, international arbitrations where the parties have expressly agreed to their application, or where Part IV of the Arbitration Act (governing domes - tic arbitration) applies by operation of Article 60 of the same Act – the proceedings are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Article 47 of the Rules imposes an obligation on arbi - tration participants to maintain the confidentiality of the proceedings. Neither the existence of proceedings nor the eventual award are publicised. The MAC treats all documents filed with it as confidential, except to the extent as authorised by the parties or otherwise necessary to implement the provisions of the Act. Related to the confidentiality of documents, the Rules also provide that the documents filed in the arbitral proceedings shall only be accessible to the arbitral tribunal and the parties on request, unless confiden - tiality is waived by the parties. Moreover, the hearings are held in private and only the parties, their assistants or representatives, the Registrar and individuals nec - essary for the support of the proceedings as ordered by the arbitral tribunal are permitted to attend. However, confidentiality is subject to certain excep - tions – for instance, where a party expressly agrees to disclosure, where disclosure is necessary to safe - guard a party’s rights in legal proceedings under the arbitration agreement or the Arbitration Act, or in cas - es involving mandatory arbitration. The general rule is that disclosure in subsequent pro - ceedings is prohibited unless otherwise agreed to in the arbitration agreement.
10. The Award 10.1 Legal Requirements
Article 44 of the Act and Article 31 of the UNCITRAL Model Law establish the legal requirements for an arbitral award, which must: • be in writing; • be signed by the tribunal (if the tribunal is com - posed of three arbitrators, the signature of the majority is required, provided that the reason for any omitted signature is stated); • unless the parties have otherwise agreed, contain the reasons for the award; and • state the date and place of arbitration. Unfortunately, there are no pre-set time limits for the rendering of an award under Maltese law. Time limits contained in institutional rules for the rendering of an award by the arbitration tribunal are, however, recog - nised by Maltese law as an expression of the will of the parties. Nonetheless, the Act sets specific time limits for post- award remedies. According to Article 47, a party may request an interpretation of the award within 15 days of receiving it, and the tribunal must provide its inter - pretation within 45 days. Under Article 48, parties may request the correction of errors – such as computa - tional mistakes, clerical or typographical errors, or similar inaccuracies – within 15 days of receiving the award. The tribunal may also correct such errors on its own initiative within 30 days. Additionally, Article 49 allows a party to request an additional award for claims that were omitted from the original decision, provided the request is made within 15 days of receiv - ing the award; if warranted, the tribunal must issue the additional award within 45 days. 10.2 Types of Remedies The Act does not address the types of remedies available, but, in principle, all kinds of remedies are available, provided they find legal support under the applicable law and are not in violation of the public policy of Malta. Tribunals can, therefore, make declar - atory reliefs and order monetary compensation, spe - cific performance or other ad hoc types of remedies
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