Arbitration in New Zealand—an introduction

Produced in partnership with Tim Stephens KC of Stout Street Chambers

Practice notes

Arbitration in New Zealand—an introduction

Produced in partnership with Tim Stephens KC of Stout Street Chambers

Practice notes

This Practice Note should be read in conjunction with Practice Note: Arbitration in New Zealand—recognition and Enforcement of arbitral awards.

The New Zealand Arbitration Act 1996

The Arbitration Act 1996 (the Act) sets out the Rules that govern both domestic and international arbitrations in New Zealand. References in this Practice Note to sections, Sch 1 and its articles and Sch 2 and its clauses are to those in the Act.

The purpose of the Act is to encourage the use of arbitration domestically and internationally and to promote consistency between international arbitral regimes and between international regimes and the New Zealand domestic regime. The Act also seeks to promote Party Autonomy to settle disputes by arbitration and to limit the role of the New Zealand courts in reviewing and setting aside arbitral decisions.

The Act achieves these purposes by enacting a set of rules applying to both international and domestic arbitrations in Schedule 1. This regime is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (the Model Law). Certain changes (explained

Tim Stephens, KC

Stout Street Chambers

Tim is a barrister at Stout Street Chambers, a leading commercial and public law set in Wellington, New Zealand. Tim specialises in energy and resources disputes and is regularly engaged in arbitral and court proceedings that have commercial and strategic significance for the sector.

Tim's expertise also extends to competition, regulatory and financial services work. Tim joined the independent bar at the start of 2017 and has been in practice for over 20 years. He obtained the BCL at the University of Oxford, has worked at a leading London litigation firm, and was a partner in Simpson Grierson’s commercial litigation group for 11 years.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Enforcement definition

What does Enforcement mean?

The action of compelling a party to comply with a judgment where it has not been complied with voluntarily and the time ordered for compliance has expired.

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