Introduction to the Most Popular Arbitral Institutions Part 2

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Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC)

SIAC, founded on 1 July 1991, is located at Maxwell Chambers [1], Singapore. SIAC established its own arbitral rules that operate under the UNCITRAL.

Singapore is the least corrupt country in Asia and ranked No. 3 in the world ranking by the statistics of Corruption Perceptions Index [2]. Furthermore, Singapore has vast cultural diversity and great technological advancement.

The arbitration in Singapore has been developed to correspond to the establishment of Singapore as the financial and legal hub. Singapore is also a center of arbitration in Asia. SIAC is one of the world’s most popular arbitral institutions. SIAC’s arbitral awards have been enforced in many countries such as Australia, China, Hong Kong, the United States, England, Thailand, and other contracting states of the New York Convention.

According to Queen Mary University of London statistics, SIAC’s popularity was 36% [3], making SCC the third-most preferred institution under ICC and LCIA. SIAC is also the most popular institution in Asia.

Citing SIAC, the arbitration cost at SIAC is lower than other well-known arbitral institutions [4], with the filing fee starts from S$2,140 (tax included) for the parties of Singapore nationality, and S$2,000 for the parties who are not of Singapore nationality, For other costs, it will be calculated based on the disputed capital.

Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC)

HKIAC is an alternative dispute resolution center located in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, established in 1985. HKIAC offers institutional arbitration, ad hoc arbitration, mediation, and dispute regarding the domain name.

HKIAC is a popular choice among the Asia-Pacific countries. According to HKIAC, there were a total of 428 cases filed at HKIAC in 2020. 318 cases were arbitration filings, 16 cases were mediation filings, and 149 cases were domain name disputes [6].

72.3% of disputes filed at HKIAC were of international dispute nature, meaning one party was not from Hong Kong. The total amount of disputed capital was HKD 68.8 billion or about USD 8.8 billion [7]. The country that requested HKIAC service the most is Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, followed by China.

According to Queen Mary University of London statistics in 2018, the survey found that HKIAC was the most preferred institution at 27% [8], the second most popular in Asia after SIAC.

HKIAC’s registration fee is HKD 8,000, and other additional costs will depend on the disputed capital [9]. The average time of arbitration proceedings is around 15.8 months, and the average fee of USD 119,078.

Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC)

SCC is an arbitral institution located in Stockholm, Sweden, established in 1917.

SCC offers services on international commercial arbitration and is regarded as one of the most important and popular arbitral institutions.

In recent years, SCC received increasing numbers of disputes from both within Sweden and abroad significantly. With the international disputes made up almost 50% of the total number of cases, this evidence supported the strong position of SCC as a preferred international business arbitral institution. Each year, there are a variety of foreign parties filing for the SCC services.

Furthermore, Sweden and SCC got special roles within the system of global bilateral and multilateral investment protection. At least 120 current bilateral investment treaties (BITs) cited SCC as the forum to resolve the disputes between the states and the investors. Now, SCC is the world’s second-largest institute for investment dispute resolution [10]. Additionally, 2018 Queen Mary University of London statistics listed SCC as the most preferred institution at 16% [11].

The cost of arbitration proceeding at SCC will be dependent on the disputed capital, including the details on the cases such as a number of appointed arbitrators, etc. [12]

[1] Maxwell Chambers is the center for alternative dispute resolution located in Singapore. The center consists of the hearing room and facilities for alternative dispute resolutions in Singapore. It is also the location of various regional branches of alternative dispute resolution offices and international arbitral institutions.
[2] https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/singapore
[3] Queen Mary University of London. 2018 International Arbitration Survey P.13
[4] https://www.siac.org.sg/about-us/why-siac/arbitration-in-singapore
[5] https://www.siac.org.sg/fees/siac-schedule-of-fees
[6] https://www.hkiac.org/about-us/statistics
[7] Ibid.
[8] Queen Mary University of London. 2018 International Arbitration Survey P.13
[9] https://www.hkiac.org/sites/default/files/ck_filebrowser/PDF/arbitration/5_%20Schedule_of_Fees_2015.pdf
[10] https://sccinstitute.com/about-the-scc/
[11] Queen Mary University of London. 2018 International Arbitration Survey P.13
[12] For those who interest, please visit https://sccinstitute.com/our-services/calculator/

For further information, please contact THAC!

Introduction to the Most Popular Arbitral Institutions Part 2