SCHEDULEACAS ARBITRATION SCHEME

XVII. QUESTIONS OF EC LAW, DEVOLUTION ISSUES AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998

Court determination of preliminary points: English/Welsh arbitrations

110EW

Section 45 of the Arbitration Act 19968 shall apply to English/Welsh arbitrations conducted in accordance with the Scheme, subject to the following modifications:

i

in subsection (1)—

a

for “Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the court” substitute “The High Court or Central London County Court”;

b

for “any question of law” substitute “any question (a) of EC law, or (b) concerning the application of the Human Rights Act 1998, or (c) any devolution issue”; and

c

omit “An agreement to dispense with reasons for the tribunal’s award shall be considered an agreement to exclude the court’s jurisdiction under this section.”;

ii

omit sub-paragraph (i) from subsection (2)(b);

iii

omit subsection (4); and

iv

after subsection (6), insert—

7

In this section, “EC law” means—

a

any enactment in the domestic legislation of England and Wales giving effect to rights, powers, liabilities, obligations and restrictions from time to time created or arising by or under the Community Treaties, and

b

any such rights, powers, liabilities, obligations and restrictions which are not given effect by any such enactment.

8

In this section “devolution issue” means a devolution issue as defined in paragraph 1 Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998 or a devolution issue as defined in paragraph 1 Schedule 8 to the Government of Wales Act 1998.