Scrutiny of Award

Tribunals are required to submit draft awards to the SIAC Secretariat for scrutiny. Under the 2016 Rules, tribunals had more flexibility in terms of when they submitted the draft award since Rule 32.3 let the Tribunal submit the draft award within 45 days from the date on which the Tribunal “declared the proceedings closed”.^[5] Thus, as long as the proceedings were not declared to be closed by the Tribunal, the 45 days timeline was not triggered. The 2025 Rules, on the other hand, fixate a timeline of 90 days from the “date of the last directed oral or written submission” for the Tribunal to submit the draft award to the SIAC Secretariat. This may result in increasing efficiency in the process.^[6]

Streamlined Procedure

The 2025 Rules introduce a ‘Streamlined Procedure’ for disputes with an amount not exceeding 1 million SGD (Singapore Dollars) i.e., around US$ 731,267^[7]  or where parties agree to the application of the Streamlined Procedure before the constitution of the arbitral tribunal.^[8] For matters below 1 million SGD also, a party is permitted to apply to the President of the SIAC Court (“President”) to exclude the application of the default Streamlined Procedure.^[9] The Streamlined  Procedure mandates the appointment of a sole arbitrator and requires the final award to be issued within 3 months from the Tribunal’s constitution.^[10] Moreover, for this procedure, the Tribunal’s fees and SIAC’s administrative fees are capped at 50% of the maximum limits under the Schedule of Fees, enhancing cost-effectiveness.^[11]

With the introduction of the Streamlined Procedure, the monetary threshold for the Expedited Procedure has been increased from 6 million SGD to 10 million SGD.^[12] Parties may also agree to the conduct of the arbitration under the Expedited Procedure at any time prior to the constitution of the Tribunal. Expedited Procedure also involves determination by a sole arbitrator unless decided by the President, deciding the dispute on the basis of written submissions (with the exception of oral hearing at the request of the parties) and producing the award within 6 months from the date of constitution of the Tribunal.^[13]

By restricting an otherwise time-consuming document requests stage and the stage of fact/witness evidence, both the Streamlined Procedure and Expedited Procedure are aimed to facilitate cost-effective and timely disposal of arbitration proceedings.

Coordinated Proceedings

The 2025 Rules also introduce the mechanism of coordinated proceedings in addition to the existing consolidation and joinder options. With this, if the same tribunal is constituted in multiple arbitrations, with a common question of law or fact arising out of or in connection with all the arbitrations, the parties may apply for the same to be conducted concurrently or sequentially,^[14] or the arbitrations to be heard together and procedural aspects to be aligned,^[15] or any of the arbitrations to be suspended pending a determination in any of the other arbitrations.^[16] This addition is quite welcome, not only in terms of the cost and time effectiveness it may bring, it will also reduce the risk of conflicting outcomes.

Minor other changes have also been made such as:

1. Requirement to include a copy of the contract and arbitration agreement in the Notice of Arbitration (“NOA”) is done away with as long as a description of the relevant contract and arbitration agreement is included.^[17]
2. The nomination of arbitrators can also be delayed and need not be included at the stage of submitting the NOA or Response to the NOA (“Response”),^[18] as subject to parties’ agreement, only a comment on the number of arbitrators and procedure for the Tribunal’s constitution will suffice.^[19]

• Efficient Emergency Arbitration Procedure

Changes have been made to the existing procedure of emergency arbitration. Now a party is permitted to request appointment of an emergency arbitrator even prior to submitting the NOA, with the NOA now required to be filed within 7 days of such request.^[20]

Schedule 1 of the 2025 Rules also permits a party to request the appointment of an emergency arbitrator concurrently with the submission of an application for a Protective Preliminary Order (“PPO”), on an ex parte basis.[21] Upon acceptance of such a request by the President of the SIAC Court of Arbitration, an emergency arbitrator will be appointed, who will assess the PPO application and issue a decision within 24 hours of their appointment. The decision on the PPO application will be communicated to the SIAC Secretariat, which will then relay the order to all parties, including the party against whom the PPO has been sought.^[22]

The applicant of a PPO is then required to provide all relevant case documents to the opposite parties within 12 hours of the SIAC Secretariat’s transmission of the PPO. Failure to do so, will result in lapsing of the PPO three days after its issuance.^[23] Subsequently, the emergency arbitrator will allow all parties the opportunity to present their case at the earliest possible moment, with the remainder of the emergency arbitration procedure proceeding as usual. The PPO will expire 14 days after its issuance.^[24]

This introduction empowers parties to avail quick recourse in cases where the disputes require swift interference. This may also reduce parties seeking pre-arbitration ex-parte reliefs from local jurisdictional courts.

• Enhanced Transparency in Third-Party Funding

Rule 38 of the 2025 Rules requires a party to disclose the existence of any third-party funding agreement and the identity and contact details of the third-party funder in its Notice or Response or as soon as practicable upon concluding a third-party funding agreement.^[25] Tribunals are also empowered to order further disclosures regarding the funder’s interest in the arbitration’s outcome and their commitment to adverse costs liability.^[26] Rule 38 also prescribes that, following the constitution of the tribunal, a party may not enter into a third-party funding agreement which may give rise to a conflict of interest with any member of the tribunal.^[27] This addition to the SIAC Rules adds a further layer of accountability and transparency to avoid any conflicts of interest or financial manipulation to the dispute resolution mechanism.

• Facilities for Virtual Arbitrations

Rule 4 of the 2025 Rules introduces the integration of SIAC Gateway that is a free to use cloud-based case management platform offering features such as electronic filing, an integrated online payment system, secure document upload and storage, and real-time case management, for use by parties and tribunals in SIAC arbitrations.^[28] The NOA can also be filed with the Secretariat through SIAC Gateway, along with all the written communication upon the parties’ consideration. This would surely enhance the efficiency of the proceedings with all necessary information consolidated and readily available at a single source.^[29]

In terms of information security and to preserve the confidentiality of the arbitration process, Rule 61 of the 2025 Rules recognises the critical nature of safeguarding sensitive data and encourages parties and tribunals to consider and propose effective security measures and relevant best practices on information security, including cybersecurity and cyber resilience.^[30] The Tribunal is empowered to take appropriate measures, including issuing an order or award for sanctions, damages, or costs, if a party does not take necessary steps to comply with the information security measures agreed by the parties and/or directed by the Tribunal.^[31]

These measures simplify and encourage parties to conduct arbitration via the virtual medium by increasing its reliability.

• Encouraging Mediation

Tribunals are empowered to encourage adoption of mediation at the first case management conference,^[32] and to make any directions including a suspension of proceedings to allow parties to adopt amicable dispute resolution methods like mediation at any stage of the arbitration.^[33] Additionally, parties are encouraged to consider such amicable dispute resolution methods at the inception of the arbitration.^[34]

• Other Notable Changes

Some other notable changes are:

1. adoption of environmentally sustainable procedures for arbitration;^[35]
2. the Registrar being empowered to conduct administrative conference with parties to discuss procedural direction prior to constitution of the Tribunal to enhance parties’ confidence in the process;^[36]
3. express provisions for applications for security for costs and security for claims;^[37] and
4. provision for appointment of tribunal secretaries irrespective of either parties’ participation.^[38]

To conclude, the 2025 Rules aim to increase the efficiency, transparency, reliability and cost-effectiveness of the SIAC arbitral process, and the introduced changes symbolize the same.

Footnote

[1] SIAC, Highlights of the New SIAC Rules 2025, available at https://siac.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Highlights-of-the-SIAC-Rules-2025.pdf

[2] Rule 46.1, the Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC Rules 2025”).

[3] Rule 46.4(b), SIAC Rules 2025.

[4] Rule 46.5, SIAC Rules 2025.

[5] Rule 32.3, SIAC Rules 2016.

[6] Rule 53.2, SIAC Rules 2025.

[7] Estimated according to conversion rates on 15 January 2025.

[8] Rule 13, SIAC Rules 2025.

[9] Schedule 2, SIAC Rules 2025.

[10] Id.

[11] Schedule 2(16), SIAC Rules 2025.

[12] Rule 14, SIAC Rules 2025.

[13] Schedule 3, SIAC Rules 2025.

[14] Rule 17.1(a), SIAC Rules 2025.

[15] Rule 17.1(b), SIAC Rules 2025.

[16] Rule 17.1(c), SIAC Rules 2025.

[17] Rule 6.3(d) and (e), SIAC Rules 2025.

[18] Rules 3.1(g) and 4.1(d), SIAC Rules 2016.

[19] Rule 6.3(g) of the SIAC Rules 2025.

[20] This enhancement could be since the provision for emergency arbitration remains a popular means for parties to obtain emergency interim relief as highlighted in SIAC’s Annual Report 2023, available at https://siac.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SIAC_AR2023.pdf, See, Schedule 1, SIAC Rules 2025.

[21] Schedule 1, SIAC Rules 2025.

[22] Schedule 1(27), SIAC Rules 2025.

[23] Schedule 1(28) – 1(30), SIAC Rules 2025.

[24] Schedule 1(31) – 1(33), SIAC Rules 2025.

[25] Rule 38.1, SIAC Rules 2025.

[26] Rule 38.4, SIAC Rules 2025.

[27] Rule 38.3, SIAC Rules 2025.

[28] Rule 4, SIAC Rules 2025.

[29] Id.

[30] Rule 61.2, SIAC Rules 2025.

[31] Rule 61.3, SIAC Rules 2025.

[32] Rule 32.4, SIAC Rules 2025.

[33] Rule 50.2, SIAC Rules 2025.

[34] Rules 6.4 and 7.3, SIAC Rules 2025.

[35] Rule 32.4(b), SIAC Rules 2025.

[36] Rule 11, SIAC Rules 2025.

[37] Rules 48 and 49, SIAC Rules 2025.

[38] Rule 24, SIAC Rules 2025.

This article was originally published in Mondaq on 22 January 2025 Co-written by: Smarika Singh, Partner; Saifur Rahman Faridi, Partner; Astha Rath, Associate. Click here for original article

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