SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Chou Sean Yu, Wendy Lin, Monica Chong Wan Yee and Frank Oh Sheng Loong, WongPartnership LLP
(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. For appeals on the tribunal’s ruling on jurisdiction, the court will undertake a de novo review (see 5.2 Circum- stances for Court Intervention ). For applications to set aside an arbitral award in an international arbitration, the courts have held that errors of law or fact made are final and binding on the parties, and may not be appealed or set aside except on the exhaustive grounds prescribed under the IAA and ML (see AJU v AJT [2011] 4 SLR 739 at [66]). Singapore has ratified the New York Convention, with the reciprocity reservation (whereby Singapore courts will enforce only awards under the New York Conven - tion that are made in another signatory state of the New York Convention). 12.2 Enforcement Procedure Both Singapore awards and foreign awards issued in New York Convention contracting states may, with permission of the court, be enforced in the same man - ner as a judgment or order of the court. Where per - mission of the court has been granted, judgment may be entered in the terms of the award (Section 19 IAA, Section 46 AA). Enforcement of Foreign Awards For foreign awards issued in a New York Convention contracting state, enforcement is a two-stage pro - cess. At the first stage, an application without notice is filed by the application for permission to enforce an award, supported by an affidavit exhibiting the arbitra - 12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention
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