What Does The Interim Arbitration Award To Amazon Mean?

File Photo: Jeff Bezos. Image Credit: Seattle City Council from Seattle. Image Licensed Under: CC BY 2.0.

Amazon Inc on Sunday won an interim award against its partner Future Group selling its retail business to Reliance Industries for $3.38 billion after a Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) single-judge arbitration panel put the deal on hold.

Amazon approached SIAC as Amazon and Future Group have under their agreement agreed to refer their disputes to SIAC. Accordingly, an emergency arbitrator was appointed by SIAC, who after hearing the parties passed the emergency award.

A full arbitration panel will be formed in the coming days and will investigate the dispute thoroughly.

There is no express mechanism for enforcement of the orders of the emergency arbitrator. Typically, the parties involved in the dispute voluntarily comply with the emergency award.

However, if the parties don’t comply with the order voluntarily, then the party which has won the emergency award can move the High Court in India under Section 9 of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996.

Future Group cannot challenge the order passed by the emergency arbitrator in India. It may either apply before the emergency arbitrator or await the constitution of the full arbitral tribunal and then apply before the main tribunal.