55. Article 27 of UNCITRAL Model Law (Court assistance in taking evidence)
(1) Article 27 of the UNCITRAL Model Law, the text of which is set out below, has effect—
“Article 27. Court assistance in taking evidence
- The arbitral tribunal or a party with the approval of the arbitral tribunal may request from a competent court of this State assistance in taking evidence. The court may execute the request within its competence and according to its rules on taking evidence.”.
(2) The Court may order a person to attend proceedings before an arbitral tribunal to give evidence or to produce documents or other evidence.
(3) The powers conferred by this section may be exercised by the Court irrespective of whether or not similar powers may be exercised by an arbitral tribunal under section 56 in relation to the same dispute.
(4) A decision or order of the Court made in the exercise of its power under this section is not subject to appeal.
(5) Section 81 (Warrant or order to bring up prisoner to give evidence) of the Evidence Ordinance (Cap. 8) applies as if a reference to any proceedings, either criminal or civil, in that section were any arbitral proceedings.
56. General powers exercisable by arbitral tribunal
(1) Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, when conducting arbitral proceedings, an arbitral tribunal may make an order—
- (a) requiring a claimant to give security for the costs of the
arbitration;
- (b) directing the discovery of documents or the delivery of interrogatories;
- (c) directing evidence to be given by affidavit; or
- (d) in relation to any relevant property—
- (i) directing the inspection, photographing, preservation, custody, detention or sale of the relevant property by the arbitral tribunal, a party to the arbitral proceedings or an expert; or
- (ii) directing samples to be taken from, observations to be made of, or experiments to be conducted on the relevant property.
