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1. Section 6(1) of the IAA sets out the threshold requirements that must be met before the Court is bound to grant a stay of legal proceedings in favour of international arbitration. These are:
a) An international arbitration agreement must exist.
b) A party to that agreement must institute court proceedings against another party to the same agreement. c) The proceedings must be in respect of a matter which is the subject of the agreement. d) The party seeking a stay must have entered appearance in the court proceedings. e) The party seeking a stay must do so before delivering any pleading or taking any other step in the proceedings.
2. Once these requirements are met, the Court will be obliged to grant a stay unless the arbitration agreement is null and void, inoperative, or incapable of being performed. The stay may be granted subject to such terms or conditions as the Court thinks fit.
4. The Court upheld the traditional distinction between in rem and in personam claims. As the in rem claim could not be a matter that was a subject of the arbitration agreement between the Plaintiff and the Defendant, the threshold requirements of Section 6 were not met in this case and the Court was not obliged to grant a stay of proceedings.
a. While an action in personam and an action in rem may involve the same cause of action, the defendants of the respective actions are regarded as different parties.
b. The Singapore Court Appeal had, in Kuo Fen Ching v Dauphin Offshore Egineering & Trading Pte
e. If the Plaintiff and Defendant were to proceed to arbitration, and the in rem action in
f. Even if the Plaintiff was prepared to allow the Intervener to participate in the
g. In any event, the arbitral tribunal would have no jurisdiction to hear the in rem claim.