Commercial Arbitration Act 2013
An Act to provide for the conduct of commercial arbitration
Part 1A Preliminary
Note—
To ensure the greatest possible harmonisation across Australian jurisdictions, this Act closely follows commercial arbitration legislation enacted in other Australian jurisdictions. Accordingly, this Act is not entirely consistent with Queensland’s current drafting style.Sections of this Act that contain a reference to the ‘Model Law’ in the heading are substantially the same as the provisions of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (as adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on 21 June 1985 with amendments as adopted by that Commission in 2006) so as to be as uniform as possible with the UNCITRAL Model Law.
Some changes have been made to those provisions of the Act based on the UNCITRAL Model Law to amend or supplement the provisions in their application to domestic arbitrations in Queensland or to accommodate modern drafting styles and conventions (for example, provisions are drafted in gender neutral terms and archaisms are replaced with modern alternatives). Notes draw attention to substantive changes.
The original numbering of the ‘articles’ of the UNCITRAL Model Law has been retained but converted to references to ‘sections’ and articles containing more than one sentence have been reformatted into subsections. There are a number of additional provisions to those based on the UNCITRAL Model Law.
1AA Short title
This Act may be cited as the Commercial Arbitration Act 2013.
1AB Commencement
This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation.
1AC Paramount object of Act
(1)The paramount object of this Act is to facilitate the fair and final resolution of commercial disputes by impartial arbitral tribunals without unnecessary delay or expense.(2)This Act aims to achieve its paramount object by—(a)enabling parties to agree about how their commercial disputes are to be resolved (subject to subsection (3) and such safeguards as are necessary in the public interest); and(b)providing arbitration procedures that enable commercial disputes to be resolved in a cost-effective manner, informally and quickly.(3)This Act must be interpreted, and the functions of an arbitral tribunal must be exercised, so that (as far as practicable) the paramount object of this Act is achieved.(4)Subsection (3) does not affect the application of the Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 14A for the purposes of interpreting this Act.
1AD Act binds all persons
This Act binds all persons, including the State and, as far as the legislative power of the State permits, the Commonwealth and the other States.
Part 1 General provisions
1 Scope of application (cf Model Law Art 1)
(1)This Act applies to domestic commercial arbitrations.Note—
The International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cwlth) covers international commercial arbitrations and the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.(2)The provisions of this Act, except sections 8, 9, 17H, 17I, 17J, 35 and 36, apply only if the place of arbitration is in Queensland.(3)An arbitration is domestic if—(a)the…