ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: Damian Taylor, Olga Ladrowska, Lawal Ijaodola and Eleanor Higginson, Slaughter and May
12.3 ADR Institutions England and Wales is home to a number of lead- ing institutions offering and promoting ADR, including: • the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolu- tion (CEDR), which specialises in mediation, conflict management and ADR services and training; and • the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), which is one of the world’s leading international institutions for the administration of arbitration and other ADR proceedings. 13. Arbitration 13.1 Laws Regarding the Conduct of Arbitration Arbitration is primarily governed by the Arbi- tration Act 1996, which applies to all domestic and international arbitrations where the seat of the arbitration is England and Wales or North- ern Ireland. Certain provisions in the Arbitration Act 1996 – such as stays of legal proceedings, enforcement of awards and the English court’s powers in support of arbitration – apply even if the seat of arbitration is located outside of Eng- land and Wales or Northern Ireland, or if no seat has been designated or determined. In addition, certain areas of arbitration law, such as confi- dentiality in arbitration, are not codified in the Arbitration Act 1996 and are derived from case law. See the England & Wales chapter in the International Arbitration Global Practice Guide for more detail. The Arbitration Act 1996 provides for the recog- nition and enforcement of domestic and foreign arbitral awards, as well as the enforcement of arbitral awards under the New York Convention 1958.
13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration The Arbitration Act 1996 does not define the meaning of arbitrability but, consistent with the New York Convention 1958, it recognises the right of the court to refuse recognition or enforcement of an award where the matter is not capable of settlement by arbitration. While commercial disputes are generally arbitrable, certain matters cannot be settled by arbitration for public policy reasons – eg, actions for bank- ruptcy and insolvency orders, as well as crimi- nal cases, and employment matters where the employee has a statutory right to be heard by an employment tribunal. 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award Arbitral awards are considered final and binding. Awards can only be challenged in the courts on three limited grounds set out in the Arbitration Act 1996: • challenge to the tribunal’s substantive juris- diction, including as to the existence or validity of the arbitration agreement, the constitution of the tribunal or the scope of the arbitration agreement; • challenge on the grounds of a serious irregu- larity affecting the arbitration proceedings, the award or the tribunal that will cause substan- tial injustice; or • appeal on a point of law. Whilst the first two grounds are mandatory and cannot be contracted out of, appeal on a point of law is a non-mandatory ground that parties can agree to exclude, either in their arbitration agreement or through their choice of arbitration rules. Challenges can be made to either the final award or to a preliminary award on jurisdiction.
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