An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to domestic arbitration, international commercial arbitration and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards as also to define the law relating to conciliation and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Preamble
WHEREAS the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration in 1985;
AND WHEREAS the General Assembly of the United Nations has recommended that all countries give due consideration to the said Model Law, in view of the desirability of uniformity of the law of arbitral procedures and the specific needs of international commercial arbitration practice;
AND WHEREAS the UNCITRAL has adopted the UNCITRAL Conciliation Rules in 1980;
AND WHEREAS the General Assembly of the United Nations has recommended the use of the said Rules in cases where a dispute arises in the context of international commercial relations and the parties seek an amicable settlement of that dispute by recourse to conciliation;
AND WHEREAS the said Model Law and Rules make significant contribution to the establishment of a unified legal framework for the fair and efficient settlement of disputes arising in international commercial relations;
AND WHEREAS it is expedient to make law respecting arbitration and conciliation, taking into account the aforesaid Model Law and Rules;
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Forty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
(1) This Act may be called the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
(2) It extends to the whole of India:
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(3) It shall come into force on such date2 as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
1. The proviso and Explanation omitted by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Adaptation of Central Laws) Order, 2020, vide notification No. S.O. 1123(E) dated (18-3-2020) and vide Union Territory of Ladakh Reorganisation (Adaptation of Central Laws) Order, 2020, notification No. S.O. 3774(E), dated (23-10-2020).
2. 22nd August, 1996, vide notification No. G.S.R 375(E), dated 22nd August, 1996, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(i).
