Provisional and partial awards

The Arbitration Act 1996 has done away with the phrase ‘interim award’, used to denote an award which was final in its effects but restricted to a part of the dispute, and replaced it with the term ‘partial award’. The old terminology of ‘interim award’ implied that the award was not final and could be revisited by the arbitrators, although the authorities indicated that an interim award was indeed final. The post-1996 terminology is not, however, always reflected in arbitral rules. In Rotenberg v Sucafina SA [2011] EWHC 901 (Comm) the problem was that failure by the parties to take up and pay for the final appeal award had the effect of reinstating the award from which the appeal had been made. But where did that leave partial appeal awards which had been taken up?

The background

This case concerned the Arbitration Rules of the Coffee Trade Federation Ltd (which, as noted in the judgment of Eder J, has merged with the British Coffee Association). Those Rules laid down a complex arbitral procedure. There was an initial arbitration before two arbitrators. If they were unable to agree, the reference was to be handed to an umpire. The Rules then granted an appeal from an award of the arbitrators or the umpire (as the case may be) to an Appeal Board consisting of five members of the CTF. An appeal was treated as a full rehearing so that fresh evidence could be admitted. The Appeal Board had the power under Rule 48 ‘to make an interim award or awards’. Rule 52 provided as follows: