SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Chou Sean Yu, Wendy Lin, Monica Chong Wan Yee and Frank Oh Sheng Loong, WongPartnership LLP
Under Article 34 (1) and (2) ML and Section 24 IAA, an award may be set aside by the court in the following instances. • If the applicant furnishes proof that: (a) a party to the arbitration agreement was under some incapacity, or said agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties have sub - jected it or, failing any indication thereon, under Singapore law; (b) the applicant was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbi - tral proceedings, or was otherwise unable to present their case; (c) the award deals with a dispute not contem - plated by or not falling within the terms of the submission to arbitration, or contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the submis - sion to arbitration, provided that, if the deci - sions on matters submitted to arbitration can be separated from those not so submitted, only that part of the award which contains decisions on matters not submitted to arbitration may be set aside; or (d) the composition of the tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties, unless such agree - ment was in conflict with a provision of the IAA and/or ML from which the parties cannot derogate, or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with the IAA and/or ML. • If the court finds that: (a) the subject matter of the dispute is not capable of settlement by arbitration under the laws of Singapore; (b) the award is in conflict with the public policy of Singapore; (c) the making of the award was induced or af - fected by fraud or corruption (“Fraud Ground”); or (d) a breach of the rules of natural justice occurred in connection with the making of the award by which the rights of any party have been preju - diced (“Natural Justice Ground”). The grounds for setting aside an award in Section 48 AA mirror the above, save that the Fraud Ground and Natural Justice Ground are not grounds on which the
court would, of its own accord, set aside the award – rather, the applicant will have to prove these grounds to the satisfaction of the court. 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal For the appeal procedure under the AA, parties may agree to exclude the jurisdiction of the court to hear appeals. An agreement to dispense with reasons for the tribunal’s award is also treated as such an agree - ment (Section 49 (2) AA). The AA does not permit par - ties to expand on the scope of the appeal. The IAA and AA do not provide any provisions per - mitting parties to exclude or expand the scope of the grounds on which an award may be set aside. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review The courts have opined that, in determining whether permission should be granted for an appeal on a ques - tion of law under the AA, the approach depends on the issue to be considered (see Permasteelisa Pacific Holdings Ltd v Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd [2005] 2 SLR(R) 270 at [10]–[11]). If the question of law is as regards the interpretation of a written document, where the contract is a “one- off” contract, permission to appeal will only be given if “it is apparent upon a perusal of the reasoned award that the meaning ascribed to the clause by the arbi - trator is obviously wrong”. If the contract is a stand - ard-form contract, permission will be given only if the court considers that “the resolution of the question of construction would add significantly to the clarity, certainty and comprehensiveness of Singapore com - mercial law”, and “that a strong prima facie case has been made out that the arbitrator has been wrong in his construction”. If the question of law is whether the facts proved in evi - dence lead to a particular legal conclusion, the court should not look to whether the court agrees with the arbitrator’s conclusion, but rather whether it appears upon perusal of the award either that the arbitrator misdirected themselves in law or that their decision was such that no reasonable arbitrator could reach.
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