Arbitration & Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019, partially enforced on 30th August, 2019

On 30th August, 2019, a few very significant amendments brought about by the Arbitration & Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019, have been enforced. These include:

1. Section 17 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996 (Act) has been amended to remove the words, "or at any time after the making of the arbitral award but before it is enforced in accordance with section 36". This means that once the arbitral award has been rendered, the tribunal shall not have any power to entertain an application under Section 17.
2. The time limit for filing the Statement of Claims, and the Statement of Defence under Section 23, has been fixed to be completed within a period of six months from the date the arbitrator, or all arbitrators receive their notice, in writing, of appointment. 
3. The time limit for passing the award under Section 29A has been fixed at twelve months from date of completion of pleadings, except in the case of an International Commercial Arbitration. in the case of International Commercial Arbitration, it is provided that an endevour should be made to complete the award within a period of 1 year, and as expeditiously as possible, from the date of completion of pleadings.
4. Further in Section 29A, sub-section (5) has been added which states that once an application for extension of time for completion of an arbitration proceeding, is already pending in Court, the mandate of the arbitrator shall continue till disposal of such application. Also, the arbitrator should be given an opportunity of being heard before his fee is reduced.
5. In section 34 of the Act, in sub-section (2), in clause (a), for the words “furnishes proof that”, the words “establishes on the basis of the record of the arbitral tribunal that” have been substituted. This is to do away with the filing of affidavits of evidence, examination and cross-examination which were being followed by lot of courts in the name of "furnishing proof".
6. In section 37 of the Act and Section 50 of the Act, in sub-section (1), for the words “An appeal”, the words “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, an appeal” shall be substituted. This is to do away with the confusions caused owing to the Commercial Courts Act and some contradictory provisions.
7. Provisions relating to confidentiality proceedings have been enacted as a new Section being Section 42A.
8. Similar to Section 8 proceedings in domestic arbitrations, in foreign seated arbitrations a similar amendment has been made in section 45 of the Act. Now courts only need to check prima facie regarding the existence of arbitration clause before referring a matter to arbitration. Therefore, for the words “unless it finds”, the words “unless it prima facie finds”, have been substituted.
9. Provision relating to applicability of the 2015 Amendment has been clarified in the form of Section 87. It reads that the 2015 Amendments shall "(a) not apply to–– (i) arbitral proceedings commenced before the commencement of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015; (ii) court proceedings arising out of or in relation to such arbitral proceedings irrespective of whether such court proceedings are commenced prior to or after the commencement of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015; (b) apply only to arbitral proceedings commenced on or after the commencement of the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2015 and to court proceedings arising out of or in relation to such arbitral proceedings.".
10. Similarly, Item 26 of the 2015 Amendment Act relating to applicability of the 2015 Act has been deleted.

The notification can be accessed here: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1584067

There are still various sections which have not been enforced. to read a more detailed article on all the amendments introduced by the Arbitration & Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2019 read here: https://adwlegal.co.in/the-arbitration-conciliation-amendment-act-2019-key-amendments/