No choice of seat

Under s2(4) of the Arbitration Act 1996 the English court can lend its support to an arbitration which does not have a designated seat, as long as there is sufficient connection between the dispute and England. In Chalbury McCouat International Ltd v PG Foils Ltd [2010] EWHC 2050 (TCC) Ramsey J, applying principles established before the enactment of the 1996 Act, held that the fact that the law applicable to the dispute was English law gave rise to that sufficient connection.

Chalbury: the facts

CMIL, an English company that dismantled, reassembled and installed industrial units, entered into an agreement dated 8 February 2008 with PGF, an Indian company which manufactured aluminium foils and laminates for the packaging of pharmaceuticals and food products in India, under which CMIL was to dismantle a manufacturing plant in the Netherlands which had been purchased by PGF. Under a separate agreement, CMIL was to reassemble the plant in India. The contract contained this unusual and ungrammatical arbitration clause: