This Practice Note considers the availability of provisional awards under the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996), pending the Arbitration Act 2025. The Arbitration Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 25 February 2025. For the in-force date, see Practice Note: When will the Arbitration Act 2025 come into force? A provisional award grants, on an interim basis, a remedy which the arbitral tribunal could grant by way of final award (AA 1996, s 39(1)). The tribunal does not have an automatic power to grant a provisional award; the parties must agree to confer such power on the tribunal (AA 1996, s 39(4). Provisional awards include, for instance, orders for: • the payment of money • the disposition of property between the parties, and • an interim payment on account of the costs of the arbitration See also EGF v HVF noting that parties were free to confer on arbitrators power to order on a provisional basis any

This Practice Note considers the remedies an arbitral tribunal may order in awards under the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996). The following related Practice Notes may also be of interest: Damages in international arbitration, Non-pecuniary remedies in international arbitration and Arbitral awards—types, requirements and effect. For separate notes considering costs under the AA 1996, see: AA 1996—costs and AA 1996—costs and interest under the award. Available remedies under the AA 1996 AA 1996, s 46 provides that the arbitral tribunal shall decide the dispute in accordance with the law chosen by the parties as applicable to the substance of the dispute or, if the parties agree, in accordance with such other considerations as are agreed by them or determined by the tribunal. For guidance on this topic, see Practice Note: Substantive law of the dispute in arbitration (England and Wales). The tribunal may make more than one award at different times on different aspects of the matters to be determined, unless otherwise agreed by the parties (AA 1996, s 47(1)). If the

In order to commence an arbitration under the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996), unless the parties have agreed otherwise, the procedure is that the claimant serves a notice of arbitration (the Notice) on the respondent requiring appointment of/agreement to appointment of the tribunal, see Practice Note: AA 1996—starting an arbitration. What to consider on receipt of the notice of arbitration On receipt of the Notice, AA 1996 only requires the respondent to participate in the appointment of the tribunal. In practice however, as soon as a Notice is received, the respondent (or its advisors) should see: • that any relevant limitation periods have been complied with (or this will form a defence) • if the Notice names the correct person or entity • if the Notice was served on the correct person or entity (though notice can be served by any effective means so this is usually not an issue) • that any pre-arbitration conditions in the arbitration agreement have been complied with. For example, is there a pre-condition to arbitrate to mediate or engage

Under the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996), the English court is permitted to exercise a range of powers in support of the arbitral process. These powers include compelling a witness within the jurisdiction to give evidence at an arbitral hearing or to produce documents for the purposes of the proceedings (AA 1996, s 43). The court also has the power to order a witness who is outside of the jurisdiction to provide a deposition or to otherwise ‘take evidence’ (AA 1996, s 44)—see Practice Note: AA 1996—interim and/or emergency relief—powers of the English court. While AA 1996, s 43 is a mandatory provision of AA 1996 (meaning that its operation cannot be excluded by agreement of the parties), AA 1996, s 44 is non-mandatory and may have been expressly excluded in the parties’ arbitration agreement. The AA 1996, s 44 procedure normally involves the court issuing a letter of request to a foreign court requesting the examination of a witness within the jurisdiction of the foreign court.

The English court and security for costs during arbitral proceedings The courts of England and Wales have no power to order security for costs during the arbitral proceedings; such power is vested exclusively in the tribunal. This has not always been the case. The House of Lords in Coppée-Lavalin v Ken-Ren Chemicals and Fertilizers; Voest-Alpine v Ken-Ren Chemicals and Fertilizers, looking at the court’s powers under section 12(6)(a) of the Arbitration Act 1950, confirmed that it was not to be precluded from making an order for security of costs in an international arbitration, with the House agreeing with the general approach to the operation of this discretion as set out by Lord Mustill. However, the House was split as regards the ultimate application of the court’s discretion, finding by a majority decision that an order for security for costs should be granted in an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration taking place in London. Lords Keith, Slynn and Woolf found that there was a real risk that the applicant would not be able to recover its

Security for costs in arbitration proceedings This Practice Note considers the arbitral tribunal’s power to order security for costs under the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996), which principally applies to arbitrations seated in England, Wales or Norther Ireland (England and English are used as a convenient shorthand). The notion of ‘security for costs’ will be familiar to common lawyers but perhaps less so to civil lawyers, as it is closely related to the common law rule that, in general, the costs of bringing proceedings should ‘follow the event’ or, put more simply, the losing party should pay. In English litigation, the general rule, if a court decides to make an order on costs, is that the unsuccessful party will be ordered to pay the recoverable costs of the successful party, although the court retains a wide discretion in this regard—see: Costs orders—overview. To bolster this principle, the mechanism of security  for costs exists and allows a defendant (whether to the main claim or a counterclaim) to apply for an order that the claimant provides security for the likely recoverable costs the defendant will incur in defending the claim—see Practice

Challenges and appeals for error of law against arbitral awards to the court under sections 67, 68 and 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996) have the capacity to substantially delay enforcement and, in some cases, prejudice the ability of an award creditor to collect under its award. Indeed, in some instances, losing parties may try to use AA 1996, ss 67–69 for this very purpose. The English and Welsh court’s powers to order security in the amount of the award (AA 1996, s 70(7)) and security for costs (AA 1996, s 70(6)) in respect of any challenge/appeal are therefore important tools that should be considered by any respondent to such a challenge/appeal. Used in appropriate circumstances, the security provisions under AA 1996, s 70 can save parties substantial time and costs. This Practice Note considers the power of the English court to order security in the amount of the award. For guidance on the court’s power to order security for costs in respect of a challenge to or appeal

This Practice Note considers how to serve an arbitration claim form issued in the courts of England and Wales (England and English are used as for convenience) on defendants within and outside the jurisdiction. While the English courts tend to take a non-interventionist approach to arbitration proceedings, there are occasions when the parties to an arbitration (or the arbitral tribunal) may wish to make an application to the English court—see Practice Note: AA 1996—court powers in support of arbitration—an introduction for a overview of the court’s powers in support of arbitration proceedings under the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996). All arbitration claims and applications under the AA 1996 are made using an arbitration claim form (Form N8) and issued in accordance with CPR 8 and CPR 62 (and the associated practice direction), with the exception of applications under AA 1996, s 9 (stay of court proceedings in favour of arbitration), which are made pursuant to the ordinary application process in the existing court proceedings (CPR 23).

This Practice Note sets out the rules on serving notices and other documents during arbitration proceedings pursuant to sections 76–77 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996). It should be read in conjunction with the guidance on commencing arbitration proceedings pursuant to the AA 1996—see, for example, Practice Note: AA 1996—starting an arbitration. The approach to service taken pursuant to AA 1996 is flexible and should ensure that there is always a method by which service can be effected, except in the exceptional circumstances discussed below. The parties are also free to agree on how service is to be effected in their arbitration and the court has no power to interfere with such agreement (AA 1996, s 76, which is a non-mandatory provision of the Act). Service of notices and other documents Note that section 76(5) makes it clear that section 76 does not apply to the service of documents for the purposes of legal proceedings, namely the service of an arbitration claim form or other application in arbitration-related court proceedings, which are

This Practice Note considers the general procedure for commencing arbitration claims before the English and Welsh courts under the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996) (English and England are used as a convenient shorthand in this Practice Note). Any additional considerations relevant to specific arbitration claims will be dealt with in the Practice Notes or other content which focus on such applications. What is an arbitration claim? For those considering making an application to court pursuant to AA 1996 for the first time, the terminology of ‘starting an arbitration claim’ using an ‘arbitration claim form’ may be confusing as it may suggest the commencement of substantive arbitration proceedings. Arbitration proceedings are, generally, commenced by notices of arbitration (in ad hoc arbitration) or requests/demands/notices for arbitration (in institutional arbitration), rather than by way of a claim form as used to commence litigation proceedings. Despite this potential confusion, the CPR, Practice Directions and the English judiciary generally refer to ‘arbitration claims’ rather than arbitration-related applications, although in some cases the language of ‘applications’ is also used by the courts. For

This Practice Note considers applications to the courts of England and Wales (England and English are used as convenient shorthand) to stay litigation proceedings in favour of arbitration proceedings pursuant to section 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996). Despite parties including arbitration clauses in their substantive contracts, when disputes arise one of the parties may decide that it no longer wishes to arbitrate. In such instances, that party may, instead, commence litigation proceedings to have the dispute determined in court. The reasons for taking such a stance can be varied—for example: the dispute may involve three or more parties, one of which is a not a party to the arbitration agreement; or, the parties have concluded a number of substantive agreements with conflicting jurisdiction clauses and the party considers (incorrectly) that it is contractually entitled to litigate the relevant dispute; or, the circumstances mean that litigation conducted in public is more aligned with the overall aims of the party in question. For a summary of key decisions considering

This Practice Note considers the statutory time limits for bringing challenges and appeals in respect of arbitral awards before the English and Welsh courts (England and English are used as convenient shorthands) pursuant to the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996), as well as related matters. Where relevant, this Practice Note should be read with our guidance on the substantive challenge and/or appeal applications: • AA 1996—challenging and appealing arbitral awards in the English court • AA 1996—challenging substantive jurisdiction post-award (s 67) • AA 1996—challenging the award on grounds of serious irregularity (s 68) • AA 1996—challenging the award—categories of serious irregularity (s 68) • AA 1996—challenging the award—serious irregularity by fraud or public policy (s 68) • AA 1996—appealing the award—leave to appeal (s 69) The time limit for bringing challenges and/or appeals against arbitration awards Under the AA 1996, challenges and appeals in respect of arbitral awards can be brought under the following sections: • AA 1996, s 67—challenging the award for lack of substantive jurisdiction