On 17 December 2026, HKIAC announced an increased threshold for its Expedited Procedure and a fee update for cases administered under the HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules. Together with its announcement, HKIAC published a Report on Hourly Rate of Arbitrators in HKIAC Administered Arbitrations. The monetary changes are applicable to all cases submitted to HKIAC under its 2024 Administered Arbitration Rules (2024 Rules) from 1 January 2026. Expanded scope for Expedited Procedure HKIAC has expanded the…

Giving due and fair notice of arbitral proceedings is critical when commencing an arbitration, as a failure to do so can affect the validity and enforceability of any arbitral award. Under Article 34(2) of the UNCITRAL Model Law, adopted by section 81(1) of the Arbitration Ordinance (Cap. 609), the Hong Kong court may set aside an award if the applicant proves that it was not given “proper” notice of the proceedings or the appointment of…

The Court of First Instance (CFI) already considered twice this year in the context of interim measures whether an arbitrator’s order amounted to an award or interim order: see our blog post on the decisions in G v N and W v Contractor.[1] But questions for the CFI as to what constitutes an award continue. InL v R [2024] HKCFI 1611, the plaintiff (L) applied to the CFI to set aside a Settlement Agreement (SA)…