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Hong Kong Court of Appeal to consider interplay between public policy and pro-arbitration approach

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Home Publikationen Hong Kong Court of Appeal to consider interplay between public policy and pro-arbitration approach

Key takeaways

  • In our previous alert, we examined the Court of First Instance’s decision in G v. N [2023] HKCFI 3366 to suspend setting aside proceedings and remit the matter to the arbitrator.
  • On 4 March 2024, the Court of First Instance in G v. N [2024] HKCFI 655 granted leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
  • The appeal provides an opportunity for the Court of Appeal to consider the interplay between the public policy issue of illegality and the Hong Kong court’s pro-arbitration approach of minimal intervention in arbitration.

In the first instance decision, the Honourable Madam Justice Mimmie Chan (Judge) held that issues of illegality might be reviewed in the context of public policy in setting aside or enforcement proceedings.

However, the Judge accepted N’s submissions that the Judge’s first instance decision raised a novel issue on the proper scope of the court’s permissible intervention on public policy grounds. The Judge considered that it would be in the interests of justice and the development of arbitration law in Hong Kong and in Model Law jurisdictions to obtain the Court of Appeal’s guidance on the extent of review by the supervisory court of issues of illegality (raised by way of defence) in the context of public policy.