Hong Kong Secretary for Justice moves resumption of second reading of Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2015

In a speech at the Hong Kong Legislative Council dated 9 July 2015, the Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong, Mr Rimsky Yuen, SC, moved the resumption of the second reading of the Arbitration (Amendment) Bill. The Secretary for Justice proposed amendments to the Bill to make it clear that parties opting for domestic arbitration should be free to decide on the number of arbitrators, whilst retaining the right to seek the assistance of the Court of First Instance of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the matters set out in sections 2 to 7 of Schedule 2 to the Ordinance.

With respect to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958, the Bill adds the four new state parties (i.e., Bhutan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guyana) to said Convention to the Schedule to the Arbitration (Parties to New York Convention) Order (Cap 609 sub leg A).

In addition, the Bill also reflects a change in the official name of an existing state party (i.e., the name “Bolivia” has been changed to “Bolivia (the Plurinational State of)”) and the extension of the application of the New York Convention by another existing state party (i.e., the United Kingdom has submitted a notification to extend the territorial application of the New York Convention to the British Virgin Islands) to one of its territories.

Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201507/09/P201507090619.htm