Summary

This is the reserved judgment on the defendant's application dated 7 November 2019 (the "Set Aside Application") to set aside the order of Teare J of 17 October 2019 (the "October Order") granting leave to enforce an arbitration award made on 4 December 2018 (the "Award").

Due to the coronavirus, the hearing of the Set Aside Application was held remotely. As the matter related to an underlying arbitration, the court ordered that the hearing should be in private. Following circulation of the draft judgment to counsel, the court considered submissions from the parties as to whether this judgment should be public having regard to the principles set out in Department of Economic Policy and Development of the City of Moscow v Bankers Trust Company [2004] EWCA Civ 31. The court has concluded that a public judgment is desirable given the issue which arose in this case in relation to section 66 of the Arbitration Act which may offer future guidance to lawyers or practitioners (City of Moscow at [39]). However the court has also taken into account the fact that the proceedings in this particular case relate to an application to enforce a confidential arbitration award. In this particular case, having regard to the parties' expectation of confidentiality in arbitral proceedings and the nature of the application, the court has concluded that the use of initials to preserve the confidentiality of the parties strikes an appropriate balance between the desirability of a public judgment and the confidential nature of arbitration proceedings (City of Moscow at [54]).

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