- Disclosure: Rule 49A imposes a duty on lawyers to disclose to the tribunal or court and every other party the existence of any third party funding their client is receiving, including the identity and address of the third-party funder. This disclosure must be made at the date of commencement of dispute resolution proceedings (where the third-party funding contract was entered into before commencement of those proceedings) or as soon as practicable after the third-party funding contract is entered into (where the third party funding contract is entered into on or after the commencement of proceedings). - Prohibition against financial interests: Rule 49B prohibits lawyers and law firms from holding directly or indirectly any shares or other interest in the Third-Party Funder (i) which the lawyer or law firm has introduced or referred to their clients; or (ii) which has a third-party funding contract with a client of the lawyer or law firm. Hong Kong On 14 June 2017, the long awaited Arbitration and Mediation Legislation (Third Party Funding) (Amendment) Bill 2016 (the 2016 Bill) was finally passed in Hong Kong. Whist a Code of Practice for funders is being drawn up, it is expected that the 2016 Bill will take effect later this year. Summary of Legislative Amendments The 2016 Bill will amend the Arbitration Ordinance (Cap. 609, The Laws of Hong Kong) and the Mediation Ordinance (Cap. 620, The Laws of Hong Kong). Under the new law: - The doctrines of maintenance and champerty are expressly stated not to apply to third-party funding in arbitration proceedings and mediation, including proceedings before emergency arbitrators and ancillary court proceedings. - The funded party must give notice in writing to each other party to the arbitration and the relevant arbitration body in relation to (i) the fact there is a funding agreement in place; (ii) the name of the third-party funder; and (iii) a stipulated end point of the funding agreement. - The term ‘third-party funder’ has a broad meaning and unlike in Singapore it is not solely limited to professional funders. Anyone who does not have an interest in the arbitration proceedings can potentially be a third-party funder. As such, law firms and lawyers providing legal services in Hong Kong or elsewhere are allowed to provide third party funding provided that they are not involved in the same arbitration. - Third-party funders will need to comply with a Code of Practice. An advisory body appointed by the Hong Kong Secretary for Justice will draw up such a code. The code is expected to cover provisions in areas such as confidentiality, conflicts of interest and internal procedures of third-party funders etc. and funders will be required to report annually on their compliance with the code. Comments These new third-party funding regimes are significant steps forward for Singapore and Hong Kong as leading international arbitration hubs, and the change is welcome news for the arbitration community. Since the new third-party funding legislation does not generally apply to court litigation in Hong Kong or Singapore, some people believe that it will encourage parties with a Hong Kong or Singapore connection to opt for arbitration over litigation. However Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Law has said that the current legislative amendments "…will serve as a testbed for third party funding. The categories may be broaded after a period of assessment". No time frame has been set for such further reform it is possible that third party funding may be