In a Q&A with Mealey’s International Arbitration Report, Haynes Boone Counsel Fiona Cain discussed changes to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Rules and how these new procedures will affect arbitrations in the future.
Read an excerpt below.
Mealey’s: How will the changes to the 7th Edition of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Arbitration Rules (SIAC Rules 2025) affect arbitral proceedings?
Fiona Cain: The latest edition of the SIAC Rules introduce changes designed to make arbitral proceedings more expeditious, cost-effective and proportionate to the amount and complexity of the issues in dispute.
One area of development is the enhancement of the Expedited Procedure and the introduction of a Streamlined Procedure.
According to their latest annual report, SIAC undertook 143 arbitrations under the Expedited Procedure last year (approximately 20 percent of the total registrations in that period). Since being introduced in 2010, there have been over 1,000 applications for the Expedited Procedure. These faster, simpler and cheaper arbitrations will continue to grow as the amount in dispute that can be resolved under the Expedited Procedure has been increased under the new Rules from S$6 million to S$10 million.
The new Streamlined Procedure will apply where the amount in dispute is less than S$1,000,000 or the parties have agreed to apply this procedure. Under it, the dispute will proceed before a sole arbitrator and is likely to be determined on documents only. It aims to deliver an award within three months, and where appropriate, dispenses with document production, discovery, witness and expert evidence and the hearing.
Another change is the introduction of a rule permitting preliminary determination. The mechanism enables parties to seek to address discrete legal or factual issues early and for tribunals to render final and binding determinations which will impact the future conduct of the case where the parties’ consent, there is evidence of likely time or cost savings and greater efficiency, or the circumstances warrant it. It complements the existing early dismissal of claims and defence procedures, which last year saw 7 out of 13 applications succeed. That procedure is used where the claim or defence is considered to be manifestly without merit or manifestly outside the jurisdiction of the tribunal. Both procedures are aimed at promoting efficiency in the conduct of the arbitral proceedings.
Finally, the new Rules build on the consolidation and joinder provisions and now allow for the coordination of procedural steps across related cases that share a common question of law or fact provided that the same tribunal is constituted in each matter. Tribunals are expected to take a broader view of the overall landscape of the disputes, while maintaining careful attention to the details of each individual case, with the intention of reducing the risk of conflicting outcomes and duplication of costs.
Read the full article from Mealey’s here.
