BCY v BCZ

[2016] SGHC 249, Singapore High Court, Steven Chong J, 9 November 2016

Arbitration - Jurisdiction of arbitral tribunal - Arbitration agreement - Governing law - Jurisdiction of arbitration tribunal challenged on the basis of invalidity of contract containing arbitration clause

An ICC arbitration had arisen out of a share purchase agreement (SPA) between the parties. The law of the contract was New York law, the law of the seat of arbitration was Singapore law. The defendant (the arbitration claimant) contended that the SPA and the arbitration clause were valid, but upon challenge of the validity of the SPA by the plaintiff (the arbitration defendant) agreed only that the validity of the arbitration clause, which on its case had been concluded before the SPA, should be determined as a preliminary issue by the arbitrator. This was the question of whether an arbitration agreement had been concluded by 18 July 2013; a date before the SPA itself would have been concluded.