By Robert Price and Eleanor Scogings

Two recent English court decisions provide useful reminders that parties to arbitration agreements must take care to properly serve arbitration proceedings on the other party. In doing so, parties will avoid the risk of the court setting aside an award on the grounds that service was defective and that the tribunal did not have jurisdiction.

In Sino Channel, the Court of Appeal confirmed that only in rare cases will an agent have anything other than express actual authority to accept service of a notice of arbitration.[1] However, in the unusual circumstances in Sino Channel, the Court of Appeal held that the agent had both implied actual and ostensible authority to accept service. In Glencore Agriculture, the High Court confirmed that a notice of arbitration sent by email to a junior employee is unlikely to amount to effective service, unless the nature of that individual’s role implies that they possessed authority to accept service on their employer’s behalf.