Arbitration Act 2025 Comes into Force on 1 August 2025
Today (1 August 2025), the Arbitration Act 2025 comes into force. This is provided by the Arbitration Act 2025 (Commencement) Regulations 2025. The Act applies to arbitration proceedings commenced on or after today, as well as to court proceedings in connection with arbitration that falls within the temporal scope of the Act (section 17(4)(a)).
The Act implements the recommendations of the Law Commission of England and Wales for reform to the arbitral framework in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.
It addresses the following matters: Law applicable to arbitration agreement; Impartiality: duty of disclosure; Immunity of arbitrator: application for removal; Immunity of arbitrator: resignation; Court determination of jurisdiction of tribunal; Power to award costs despite no substantive jurisdiction; Power to make award on summary basis; Emergency arbitrators; Court powers exercisable in support of arbitral proceedings in respect of third parties; Challenging the award: remedies available to the court; Procedure on challenge under section 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996; Challenging the award: time limit; Appeals to Court of Appeal from High Court decisions; Requirements to be met for court to consider applications; Repeal of provisions relating to domestic arbitration agreements.
Readers of the EAPIL Blog are likely to be most interested in the new rule on determining the law applicable to arbitration agreements.
6A Law applicable to arbitration agreement
(1) The law applicable to an arbitration agreement is—
(a) the law that the parties expressly agree applies to the arbitration agreement, or
(b) where no such agreement is made, the law of the seat of the arbitration in question.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), agreement between the parties that a particular law applies to an agreement of which the arbitration agreement forms a part does not constitute express agreement that that law also applies to the arbitration agreement.
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to an arbitration agreement derived from a standing offer to submit disputes to arbitration where the offer is contained in—
(a) a treaty, or
(b) legislation of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom.
(4) In this section—
“legislation” includes any provision of a legislative character;
“treaty” includes any international agreement (and any protocol or annex to a treaty or international agreement).
Importantly, the new section 6A applies regardless of when the arbitration agreement was made (section 17(4)(b)). That is, it applies to all arbitration agreements, even those made before 1 August 2025, as long as arbitration proceedings commence on or after today.