English Commercial Arbitration In 2023: A Round-Up

What are the most important English commercial arbitration developments of 2023? We have put together a round-up below.

1. Reform of the English Arbitration Act

On 6 September 2023, the Law Commission of England & Wales released its Final Report on reform of the Arbitration Act 1996, alongside a draft Bill. While emphasising that "root and branch reform is not needed or warranted", a number of notable reforms were proposed, including codifying an arbitrator's duty of disclosure, introducing a new rule regarding the governing law of the arbitration agreement, and introducing a power of summary disposal for decisions on issues that have no real prospect of success. For a summary of the Law Commission's recommendations in its final report, please see our previous blog post here.