Clarity on the impact of the Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2016, and the Arbitration and Mediation Legislation (Third Party Funding) (Amendment) Bill 2016, passed in June 2017, in this practical guide endorsed by Geoffrey Ma GBM QC SC, the Chief Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.
This Fourth Edition of Arbitration in Hong Kong – A Practical Guide examines all the forthcoming amendments to the Arbitration Ordinance, especially the two sets of amendments just passed this June 2017, clarifying:
• Third-party funding of arbitration, mediation and related proceedings now permitted under the arbitration laws and related alternative dispute resolutions; and
• Disputes over intellectual property rights (IPRs) can now be resolved through confidential arbitration, now no longer contrary to the public policy of Hong Kong to enforce arbitral awards involving IPRs.
This Fourth Edition provides an in-depth analysis and commentary on the amendments to the Arbitration Ordinance, which are all aimed at: (i) allowing intellectual property disputes to be arbitrated in Hong Kong; (ii) making Hong Kong more appealing than other jurisdictions for conducting arbitration in a diverse field of legal disputes; and (iii) demonstrating to the international community that Hong Kong is committed to developing itself as an international centre for alternative dispute resolution involving all matters.
To further this goal, the key amendments to the law as highlighted in this text includes:
• Definition and application of arbitration is extended to include not only arbitrations to which the Ordinance itself applies, but also proceedings before the court, an emergency arbitrator, or mediator;
• Third party funding of arbitration now allowed but excludes the direct or indirect provision of arbitration funding by lawyers or those providing legal services, in order to avoid any conflict of interest as well as being a requirement to disclose all material facts of the arrangement to all interested parties;
• Communication of confidential information to an existing or potential third-party funder is allowed but is subject to confidentiality requirements;
• Newly added Part 10A to the Arbitration Ordinance now applies where the place of arbitration is outside Hong Kong or where there is no place of arbitration, to the extent that costs and expenses are provided in Hong Kong in relation to the arbitration; and
• Power to issue a code of practice (“Code”) by the authorised body setting out standards and practices to be observed with respect to, inter alia, funding agreements, internal procedures of third party funders (such as sufficient minimum capital requirements) and monitoring measures.
