THE SIAC RULES 2016 - STAYING AHEAD OF THE PACK By Raja Bose, Ashish Chugh and Aloysius Chang (Singapore) On 1 July 2016, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”) officially released the sixth edition of the SIAC Arbitration Rules (“SIAC Rules 2016”) which came into effect on 1 August 2016 . This is the SIAC’s third revision of the rules in the last nine years, which reflects the SIAC’s commitment to stay at the forefront of international arbitration practice. The previous revision to the SIAC Rules in 2013 was mainly to reflect the SIAC’s new governance structures, including the creation of the SIAC Court of Arbitration (“SIAC Court”). The 2016 revisions are far more significant and progressive Some of the key highlights of the SIAC Rules 2016 include a novel procedure for the early dismissal of claims and defences, a new streamlined process for disputes arising out of multiple contracts, and enhancements to existing special procedures to improve the efficiency of the arbitral process. NEW PROCEDURE ON EARLY DISMISSAL OF CLAIMS/ DEFENCES (RULE 29) The SIAC has introduced a new procedure under Rule 29 for the early dismissal of a claim or a defence (akin to summary judgment procedures in civil litigation), which is the first of its kind 32 | K&L Gates: ARBITRATION WORLD amongst major commercial arbitration centres. The early dismissal procedure is intended to offer parties an early resolution in cases involving a claim or a defence that is wholly unmeritorious or vexatious and has the potential to provide significant savings of time or costs. As a safeguard against any unmeritorious applications, the Tribunal retains the discretion to decide whether an early dismissal application should be allowed to proceed. The willingness of arbitrators to allow such an application to proceed, however, remains to be seen, given the looming spectre of any potential award being challenged, in particular on due process grounds. MULTI-CONTRACT DISPUTES AND CONSOLIDATION OF ARBITRATIONS (RULES 6 AND 8) The SIAC has introduced a “streamlined process” under Rules 6 and 8, which permits consolidation of multiple arbitrations (previously, the SIAC Rules were silent on the issue of consolidation). The new procedure allows a claimant to file a single Notice of Arbitration