Costs

Failure to give reasons

Under s52(3) of the Arbitration Act 1996 an award ‘shall contain reasons for the award’. There is no mention in s52(3) of the sanction for a failure to include reasons, although the scheme of the 1996 Act suggests that a failure to include reasons does not render the award void but simply allows a party to seek reasons by means of an application to the court under s68 of the 1996 Act on the basis that the arbitrators have failed to comply with the requirements as to the form of the award (s68(2)(h)). This view of the obligation to give reasons has been adopted by the Supreme Court of Tasmania in Ridler v Waters [2001] TASSC 98.