Confidentiality of arbitration related court proceedings The current default position under section 14F of the Act is that court proceedings on arbitral matters are to be public. This approach is inconsistent with the confidentiality normally afforded to arbitral proceedings and with other international legislative approaches that seek to preserve such confidentiality. Other jurisdictions have struck the balance between open justice and confidentiality of arbitral proceedings in a way that preserves confidentiality by default. Section 14F is also inconsistent with the move to preserving the privacy of arbitral proceedings in the Arbitration Amendment Act 2007. Reforming section 14F by introducing a rebuttable presumption of confidentiality will support the existing principles under section 5 by making New Zealand a more attractive destination for international arbitration. NZDRC and NZIAC have long advocated for a presumption of confidentiality in Court proceedings in relation to arbitral matters. Our arbitration rules expressly provide, in terms of s14H(d) of the Act, that the parties agree that any Court proceedings related to the arbitration must, to the full extent permitted by the law, be conducted in private. However, the present default position is that a Court must conduct proceedings under the Act in public and any agreement that proceedings be conducted in private such as that provided for in our rules is just one of the matters that the Court must consider in coming to a determination. Narrowed grounds for setting aside an arbitral award Articles 34 and 36 of Schedule 1, concerning the enforceability of an arbitral award, were in issue in the Supreme Court of New Zealand decision of Carr v Gallaway Cook Allan [2014] NZSC 75 where the definition of “arbitration agreement” was disputed. In that case, the Supreme Court held that an arbitration agreement providing for invalid recourse against an arbitral award (appeal on a question of fact) is not a valid arbitration agreement.