“Article 8. Arbitration agreement and substantive claim before court
- (1) A court before which an action is brought in a matter which is the subject of an arbitration agreement shall, if a party so requests not later than when submitting his first statement on the substance of the dispute, refer the parties to arbitration unless it finds that the agreement is null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed.
- (2) Where an action referred to in paragraph (1) of this article has been brought, arbitral proceedings may nevertheless be commenced or continued, and an award may be made, while the issue is pending before the court.”.
(2) If a dispute in the matter which is the subject of an arbitration agreement involves a claim or other dispute that is within the jurisdiction of the Labour Tribunal established by section 3 (Establishment of tribunal) of the Labour Tribunal Ordinance (Cap. 25), the court before which an action has been brought may, if a party so requests, refer the parties to arbitration if it is satisfied that—
- (a) there is no sufficient reason why the parties should not be referred to arbitration in accordance with the arbitration agreement; and
- (b) the party requesting arbitration was ready and willing at the time the action was brought to do all things necessary for the proper conduct of the arbitration, and remains so.
(3) Subsection (1) has effect subject to section 15 (Arbitration agreements) of the Control of Exemption Clauses Ordinance (Cap. 71).
(4) If the court refuses to refer the parties to arbitration, any provision of the arbitration agreement that an award is a condition precedent to the bringing of legal proceedings in respect of any matter is of no effect in relation to those proceedings.
(5) If the court refers the parties in an action to arbitration, it must make an order staying the legal proceedings in that action.
(6) In the case of Admiralty proceedings—
- (a) the reference of the parties to arbitration and an order for the stay of those proceedings may, despite subsections (1) and (5), be made conditional on the giving of security for the satisfaction of any award made in the arbitration; or
- (b) if the court makes an order under subsection (5) staying those proceedings, the court may (where property has been arrested, or bail or other security has been given to prevent or obtain release from arrest, in those proceedings) order that the property arrested, or the bail or security given, be retained as security for the satisfaction of any award made in the arbitration.
