The Arbitration Act 2010 came into force on 8 June 2010. Overall, the Act seeks to harmonise domestic and international commercial arbitration rules with the aim of creating a more streamlined, cost-effective and user-friendly system for commercial entities. Parties to commercial transactions adopting arbitration in their contracts as the means of dispute resolution need to be aware of the implications of the Act.

In applying the UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, the Act will align Ireland’s arbitration rules and procedures under the existing Arbitration Acts 1954 to 1998 with commercial international standards.  The Model Law is increasingly used internationally by various countries as a basis for resolving commercial disputes. So what does the Act mean for Business?