Mauritius International Arbitration

The main features of the International Arbitration Act 2008 ("the Act")

Mauritius has adopted state-of-the-art legislation based on the UNCITRAL Model Law, the main features of the Act are as follows:

(a) The Act establishes two distinct and entirely separate regimes for domestic arbitration and for international arbitration. It covers only the latter.

(b) The provisions of the Amended Model Law have been incorporated within the Act itself (rather than in a separate schedule). In order to assist international users, a Schedule (The Third Schedule to the Act) has been prepared setting out where given Articles of the Model Law have been incorporated in the Act. The Amended Model Law has been modified by reference (in particular) to the current works of UNCITRAL on its arbitration Rules, and to the English, Singapore and New Zealand Arbitration Acts.

(c) A number of specific features have been incorporated in the Act:

• (i) The Act provides that all Court applications under the Act are to be made to a panel of three judges of the Supreme Court, with a direct and automatic right of appeal to the Privy Council. This should provide international users with the reassurance that Court applications relating to their arbitrations will be heard and disposed of swiftly, and by eminently qualified jurists.
• (ii) The Act adopts a unique solution, in that all appointing functions (and a number of further administrative functions) under the Act are given to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague (“the PCA”). In order to ensure that the PCA is able to react swiftly in all Mauritian arbitrations, the Government of Mauritius has concluded a Host Country Agreement with the PCA pursuant to which the PCA has appointed a permanent representative to Mauritius, funded by Government of Mauritius, whose tasks will consist inter alia of assisting the Secretary-General of the PCA in the discharge of all his functions under the Act.
• (iii) Specific provision has been made in the Act for the arbitration of disputes under the constitution of offshore companies incorporated in Mauritius in order to provide a link between Mauritius’ thriving offshore sector and the new intended international arbitration sector.
• (iv) The Act expressly clarifies that foreign lawyers are entitled to represent parties and to act as arbitrators in international commercial arbitrations in Mauritius.