Section 56 Arbitration and Mediation Act
Section 56 Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023 is about Award Review Tribunal. It is under Part I (Arbitration) of the Act.
(1) Notwithstanding section 55(1) of this Act, the parties may provide in their arbitration agreement that an application to review an arbitral award on any of the grounds set out in section 55(3) of this Act shall be made to an Award Review Tribunal.
(2) Where the parties have agreed that an award shall be reviewed by an Award Review Tribunal, a party who is aggrieved by an arbitral award and who seeks to challenge the award on any of the grounds set out in section 55(3) of this Act shall, within the same time frame specified in section 55(4) of this Act, send the other party a written communication which indicates its intent to challenge the award (in this Act referred to as “the Notice of Challenge”).
(3) The Notice of Challenge shall include the documents referred to in section 57 (2) of this Act.
(4) Unless the parties otherwise agree, the Award Review Tribunal shall –
(a) consist of the same number of arbitrators in the arbitral tribunal that first determined the dispute (in this Act referred to as “the First Instance Tribunal”); and
(b) be constituted when, in the case of a sole arbitrator, the arbitrator accepts the appointment or, where there is more than one arbitrator, when every arbitrators accept their respective appointments.
(5) The provisions of this Act applies mutatis mutandis to the Award Review Tribunal-
(a) section 7 (appointment of arbitrators);
(b) section 8 (grounds for challenge);
(c) section 9 ( challenge procedure);
(d) section 10 (failure or impossibility to act);
(e) section 11 (appointment of substitute arbitrator);
(f) section 12 (withdrawal, death and cessation of office of an arbitrator);
(g) section 13 (immunity oiari -arbitrator -appointing authority and arbitral institution);
(h) section 14 ( competence of arbitral tribunal to rule on its on jurisdiction);
(i) section 30 (equal treatment of parties);
(j) section 41 (default of a party);
(k) section 44 ( decision making by arbitral tribunal);
(1) section 47 (form and contents of award);
(m) section 50 ( costs of the arbitration) and Article 49 of the First Schedule (fees and expenses of arbitrators);
(n) section 53 (joint and several liability of the parties for arbitrator’s fees and expenses); and
(o) section 54 (lien on the award).
(6) Parties may agree on the procedure to be followed by the Award Review Tribunal, otherwise the Award Review Tribunal shall conduct its proceedings in a manner as it considers appropriate and shall endeavour to render its decision in the form of an award within 60 days from the date on which it is constituted.
(7) An application for enforcement of an award under section 57 of this Act may be made to the Court notwithstanding that a party has given a Notice of Challenge to the other party under subsection 2, unless –
(a) proceedings upon the application for enforcement is stayed until after the decision of the Award Review Tribunal has been rendered, and
(b) notwithstanding subparagraph (a), the Court makes such orders as to the interim preservation of the subject of the dispute, or as to giving security for the award as may be just in the circumstances of the case.
(8) Where the Award Review Tribunal has set aside the award in whole or in part, a party may apply to the Court to review the decision of the Award Review Tribunal and where the Court decides that the decision of the Award Review Tribunal is unsupportable having regard to the ground on which the Award Review Tribunal set aside the award, the Court shall reinstate the award, or the part of it that was set aside by the Award Review Tribunal.
(9) Where the Award Review Tribunal has affirmed the award in whole or in part, an application to the Court to set aside the award of the First Instance Tribunal or the award of the Award Review Tribunal, the application may only be made on the grounds set out in section 55(3)(b)(i) or section 55(3)(b)(ii) of this Act.
