Jurisdiction: preliminary court order on jurisdiction

Section 32 of the Arbitration Act 1996 introduced into English law a procedure whereby an application could be made to the court for a preliminary ruling on the tribunal’s substantive jurisdiction. The procedure was regarded as one to be invoked in exceptional circumstances only. VTB Commodities Trading Dac v JSC Antipinsky Refinery [2019] EWHC 3292 (Comm) is one of the very few cases where the court has considered a section 32 application.

VTB : the facts