The English Arbitration Act Consultation Paper: A BVI Lens

On 22 September 2022, the Law Commission published a consultation paper (the "Consultation Paper") on the English Arbitration Act 1996 (the "English Arbitration Act") which included a number of significant provisional proposals. Alongside the Consultation Paper is a helpful summary document which outlines the key issues for consideration and the Law Commission's provisional proposal on those issues. This article summarises those key issues through the lens of BVI arbitration and more specifically the British Virgin Islands Arbitration Act 2013 (the "BVI Arbitration Act").

Confidentiality

The first area discussed in the Consultation Paper is confidentiality. This is a famously nebulous concept which the draftsmen of the English Arbitration Act deliberately avoided codifying due to the various exceptions that apply. It was instead left to the courts to grapple with on a case by case basis.