TURKS & CAICOS Law and Practice Contributed by: Stephen M Wilson KC, Wilson Wells
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration
was adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade. There are significant differences between the two. Indeed, the Arbitration Act more clearly resembles the Arbitration Act 1889 of England and Wales, with the result that the law in the TCI remains much the same as it was in England and Wales before the Arbitration Act 1934. 2.2 Changes to National Law There have been no significant changes to the national arbitration law in the TCI. There is also no pending legislation that may change the arbitration landscape in the TCI within the next 12 months – although the current Chief Justice has indicated a strong desire to have the law modernised when it comes to ADR and has already succeeded in bringing the new Court-Connected Mediation Rules 2021 (the “Media - tion Rules”) into force (on 15 October 2021), with the immediate focus being on court-ordered mediation. The only real legal requirement for an arbitration agreement to be enforceable under the Arbitration Act is that it is in writing. 3.2 Arbitrability The Arbitration Act does not contain any restriction on the subject matters that may be referred to arbitration. The general approach to determine the arbitrability of a dispute is one of contractual interpretation of the arbitration agreement. The arbitral tribunal must con - sider the dispute in question and then elicit from the arbitration agreement whether the parties intended a dispute of the kind in question to be resolved by arbi - tration. This is a matter of construction and ought to be resolved by arriving at the parties’ presumed mutu - al intention using ordinary principles of construction. In arriving at the parties’ presumed mutual intention, the weight of modern authority supports a presump - tion in favour of a broad or liberal approach leading to “one-stop adjudication”. 3. The Arbitration Agreement 3.1 Enforceability
International arbitration is not commonly used as a method of dispute resolution in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). This is likely for many reasons, including the size of the country (the population is approximately 50,000), the antiquated legislation dealing with arbitra - tion, and the fact that there are no recognised arbitral bodies operating here. As such, the TCI is seldom if ever chosen as a seat for international arbitration. Parties to international contracts might opt for, or be required to agree to, a submission to arbitration but that will usually be seated in another jurisdiction. Therefore, litigation tends to be the favoured method of dispute resolution for domestic parties. 1.2 Key Industries There are no particular industries in the TCI that are experiencing significant or even minimal international arbitration activity in 2024–25. The principal industries in the TCI are tourism and tourism-related develop - ment. 1.3 Arbitration Institutions There are no particular arbitral institutions used for international arbitration in the TCI given the lack of activity in the sector; however, in the author’s own experience and in light of the prevalence of US coun - terparties, the American Arbitration Association might be the institution most commonly referenced in arbi - tration clauses in international contracts with TCI busi - nesses. 1.4 National Courts There are no specialist courts in the TCI that are des - ignated to hear disputes related to international and/ or domestic arbitrations.
2. Governing Legislation 2.1 Governing Law
International and domestic arbitration in the TCI is governed by the Arbitration Act (Chapter 4.08). It is not based on the UNCITRAL Model Law, having come into force ten years before the UNCITRAL Model Law
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