Arbitration Agreement Template (Gibraltar)
Updated on 8 August 2026
Gibraltar arbitrates under its own statute. The Arbitration Act, originally enacted in 1895 and amended since, is the consolidating legislation for arbitral proceedings in Gibraltar, and it also transposes into domestic law the international conventions on foreign arbitral awards — the Geneva Convention of 1923 and the New York Convention of 1958. That combination is why Gibraltar-seated awards travel: the enforcement machinery is built into the same Act as the domestic process.
Because the framework is Gibraltar's own rather than England's, the seat clause is doing more work than it looks. This template fixes the seat as a required term, gives the tribunal a way to be constituted without a court application, sets one consistent costs rule, and drafts confidentiality with exceptions that survive contact with reality. It replaces a widely copied free template that never identifies a seat at all, names a single arbitrator in a blank with no appointing authority behind it, contradicts itself on costs, lets the award be handed to third parties inside its own confidentiality clause, and tells the parties they may still sue over "Constitutional or civil rights" — a sentence lifted from a United States context that has no application here.
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Arbitration Agreement
This Arbitration Agreement is made on between of and of (each a Party and together the Parties).
Each Party enters into this Agreement in the course of its business and not as a consumer, and each has had the opportunity to take independent legal advice on it and to negotiate its terms.
1. Disputes Covered
Any dispute, claim or difference arising out of or in connection with the dated , including any question about its existence, validity, breach or termination, shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration under this Agreement.
2. Seat and Governing Law
The seat, or legal place, of the arbitration is . Where the seat is Gibraltar, the arbitration is governed by the Arbitration Act of Gibraltar and the Supreme Court of Gibraltar exercises the supervisory jurisdiction that Act confers, including in relation to the appointment of arbitrators and applications concerning an award. The law governing the underlying contract is . The seat is unaffected by where any hearing is physically held.
3. Rules and Appointment of the Tribunal
The arbitration shall be conducted under the rules of in force when the arbitration is commenced, which are incorporated into this Agreement, and that institution shall appoint the tribunal in accordance with those rules where the Parties do not agree within thirty days of the request for arbitration.
The tribunal shall consist of one arbitrator, agreed by the Parties or, failing agreement, appointed as set out above.
Any arbitrator shall have the following qualification or experience: . Every arbitrator must be and remain impartial and independent, must disclose before accepting appointment any circumstance likely to give rise to justifiable doubts as to their impartiality or independence, and must continue to disclose any such circumstance arising afterwards.
4. Language, Venue and Procedure
The arbitration shall be conducted in . Hearings may be held at or by video conference as the tribunal directs after consulting the Parties. The tribunal shall adopt procedures suitable to the circumstances of the case and set a timetable proportionate to the amount in dispute and the complexity of the issues, avoiding unnecessary delay and expense.
5. Interim Relief and Court Support
Either Party may apply to the tribunal for interim or conservatory measures, and may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for urgent interim relief before the tribunal is constituted or for assistance in taking evidence. Doing so is not a breach of this Agreement or a waiver of the agreement to arbitrate.
Nothing in this Agreement prevents either Party from applying to a court of competent jurisdiction for an injunction or other equitable relief to restrain the actual or threatened infringement, misuse or disclosure of intellectual property or confidential information.
6. Costs
The Parties shall advance the tribunal's fees and expenses and any institutional charges in equal shares. In its award the tribunal may allocate those costs, and each Party's reasonable legal and expert costs, between the Parties as it considers appropriate having regard to the outcome and the conduct of the arbitration. No value added tax is chargeable on services supplied in Gibraltar, and any indirect tax arising in another jurisdiction is the responsibility of the Party in that jurisdiction.
7. Confidentiality
The existence of the arbitration, all submissions and evidence in it, and the award are confidential. A Party may nonetheless disclose them to its professional advisers, auditors and insurers on a confidential basis, so far as necessary to enforce or challenge the award or to protect a legal right, and where required by law, by a court, or by a regulator. This obligation survives the conclusion of the arbitration.
8. The Award and Enforcement
The award shall be in writing, shall state the reasons on which it is based, and is final and binding on the Parties. The Parties agree that the award may be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction. Where recognition or enforcement is sought outside Gibraltar, the Parties intend the award to be enforceable under the international conventions on foreign arbitral awards given effect in Gibraltar law, including the New York Convention.
9. General
This Agreement survives termination, expiry or rescission of the underlying contract. If any provision is held unenforceable, the remainder continues in effect. Notices shall be in writing to for the first Party and for the second Party. This Agreement may be executed in counterparts and by electronic signature.
First party
Date:
Second party
Date:
The Gibraltar framework, and why the seat matters
The seat is the legal home of the arbitration. It fixes the arbitration law that governs the proceedings and the court that supervises them — in Gibraltar, the Supreme Court of Gibraltar. It is not the hearing venue, and this template keeps the two apart so hearings can be held in Gibraltar, in Spain across the frontier, in London, or by video without disturbing the legal position.
Choosing a Gibraltar seat is a deliberate commercial decision rather than a default. Gibraltar's Arbitration Act is a consolidating statute for arbitral proceedings, and the same Act carries the transposition of the Geneva and New York Conventions, so an award made under a Gibraltar seat has an identified route to recognition and enforcement abroad.
Gibraltar's legal system is English-law based, and parties often assume that English arbitration statute applies automatically. It does not — the applicable statute is Gibraltar's own. A clause that names London as the seat is choosing English law and the English courts for the process; a clause that names Gibraltar is choosing the Arbitration Act and the Supreme Court of Gibraltar. The template asks which you mean rather than letting it be inferred.
Getting a tribunal appointed without going to court
The structural failure in the source template is that it names one arbitrator in a blank, with no institution and no appointing authority, so the first disagreement over a name stops the process. Court assistance exists, but starting a private dispute resolution process with a Supreme Court application defeats the purpose of choosing arbitration.
This template lets you adopt institutional rules — parties seating in Gibraltar commonly use a recognised international institution such as the LCIA or the ICC, or a Gibraltar-based scheme — or run ad hoc under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules with an appointing authority named in the agreement. Either way the clause contains a mechanism that works on its own.
It also sets the number of arbitrators and the appointment fallback: one arbitrator for most commercial disputes, three where the amount or the technical complexity justifies it, with each side appointing one and the two appointees selecting the chair. Independence is handled properly, with a continuing duty to disclose anything likely to give rise to justifiable doubts about impartiality and a route for challenges.
What the clause should not try to do
An arbitration agreement is a commercial instrument, not a way around protective legislation. This template is drafted for negotiated business-to-business use and says so on its face, with both parties confirming they contract in the course of business and have had the opportunity to take advice.
Two areas deserve particular care in Gibraltar. Consumer contracts attract protective rules on unfair terms, so an arbitration clause imposed on a consumer in standard terms is exposed in a way a negotiated commercial clause is not. And employment claims have their own statutory route — an arbitration clause in a contract of employment does not simply divert them into private arbitration. Where either is in play, take advice rather than reaching for a template.
What the template does offer are the carve-outs commercial parties actually use: preserving each party's right to apply to a court for urgent injunctive relief to protect intellectual property or confidential information, and preserving a small-claims route for low-value disputes. Both are optional because each changes the bargain.
Costs, confidentiality, the award and enforcement
Costs come in two layers — the tribunal's and any institution's fees, and each side's own legal costs. The template makes you pick one rule: split evenly whatever happens, or allocated by the tribunal in the award. The source template does both at once, letting the arbitrator award costs to the prevailing party in one clause and fixing the arbitrator's own fee as shared equally regardless of who was right in the next.
One Gibraltar-specific point runs through the money clauses: Gibraltar has no VAT. Fee and cost provisions drafted for a United Kingdom or European Union counterparty routinely carry a VAT line that simply does not apply to a Gibraltar-supplied service, and this template omits it rather than leaving a clause that confuses the parties and their accountants. Where a counterparty is elsewhere, their own indirect-tax position is theirs to state.
Confidentiality is drafted with workable exceptions — professional advisers, auditors and insurers, enforcement or challenge of the award, and disclosure required by law, a court or a regulator. A clause that then permits the award to be given to unspecified third parties, as the source does, protects nobody. The award itself is written, reasoned, final and binding, and the parties agree it may be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction, with the Act's transposition of the New York Convention providing the route where enforcement is sought outside Gibraltar.
Clause-by-clause guide
- Scope of disputes
- Covers disputes arising out of or in connection with the contract, including questions of its existence, validity and termination, so the scope is not itself the first argument.
- Seat of arbitration
- Names Gibraltar or another seat, which fixes the governing arbitration statute and the supervising court. Kept separate from the hearing venue.
- Governing law of the contract
- Recorded separately from the seat, because the two are different choices and are frequently conflated.
- Rules and appointing authority
- Institutional rules with a built-in appointment route, or ad hoc arbitration with a named appointing authority so the clause cannot deadlock.
- Number and qualification of arbitrators
- One or three, any required expertise, and the fallback where a party fails to appoint or the two appointees cannot agree a chair.
- Impartiality and disclosure
- A continuing duty to disclose circumstances likely to give rise to justifiable doubts about impartiality, with challenges routed to the institution or the court.
- Language and hearing arrangements
- Sets the language and allows hearings in Gibraltar, elsewhere or by video as the tribunal directs after consulting the parties.
- Interim relief and court support
- Preserves applications to the tribunal and the court for urgent relief and evidentiary assistance without waiving the agreement to arbitrate.
- Costs
- One rule — split evenly, or allocated by the tribunal — rather than the source template's two contradictory ones, and no VAT line, because Gibraltar has none.
- Confidentiality and the award
- Protects the proceedings and award with workable exceptions, and provides for a reasoned final award enforceable in court and abroad under the New York Convention.
Gibraltar compliance checklist
Gibraltar has its own statute and its own courts. Confirm the current text before relying on any provision.
Draft against Gibraltar's Arbitration Act, not England's
Arbitration in Gibraltar is governed by the Arbitration Act, originally enacted in 1895 and amended since. It is the consolidating statute for Gibraltar arbitral proceedings and also transposes the international conventions on foreign arbitral awards into domestic law.
Arbitration Act - Laws of GibraltarName the seat, not just a hearing venue
The seat fixes the governing arbitration statute and the supervising court. Naming Gibraltar chooses the Arbitration Act and the Supreme Court of Gibraltar; naming London chooses English arbitration legislation and the English courts. Say which you mean.
Give the clause a working appointment route
Institutional rules supply an appointing body. For ad hoc arbitration, name an appointing authority in the agreement so a disagreement over a single arbitrator does not require a court application to break the deadlock.
Rely on the Convention route for foreign enforcement
The Act transposes the Geneva Convention of 1923 and the New York Convention of 1958 on foreign arbitral awards, which is the route by which a Gibraltar-seated award is recognised and enforced abroad.
New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral AwardsDo not use this template with consumers
Consumer contracts attract protective rules on unfair terms, and an arbitration clause imposed in standard terms on a consumer is exposed in a way a negotiated commercial clause is not. Take advice before including one.
Do not use it to divert employment claims
Statutory employment claims have their own route in Gibraltar. An arbitration clause in a contract of employment does not simply move them into private arbitration.
Leave VAT out of the money clauses
Gibraltar has no VAT system, so a VAT line copied from a United Kingdom or European Union precedent does not apply to a Gibraltar-supplied service. Where a counterparty is elsewhere, their indirect-tax position is a matter for them to state.
Check the current consolidated text before signing
Gibraltar legislation is consolidated and amended on the Laws of Gibraltar portal, and an Act of this age has been amended repeatedly. Confirm the version in force rather than relying on a summary.
Laws of Gibraltar
How to complete this arbitration agreement
- Identify the parties and the contract. Name both parties and the contract the arbitration agreement attaches to, or describe the dispute if you are signing after one has arisen.
- Fix the seat and the governing law. Choose Gibraltar or another seat, and record separately the law governing the underlying contract.
- Choose rules and the appointment route. Select institutional rules or ad hoc arbitration with a named appointing authority, and set one or three arbitrators.
- Set carve-outs and the cost rule. Decide on injunctive relief and small-claims carve-outs, and choose whether costs are split or allocated by the tribunal.
- Review and sign. Check the language, hearing arrangements and notice addresses, then download the DOCX or PDF and keep it with the underlying contract.
Frequently asked questions
Does English arbitration law apply in Gibraltar?
No. Gibraltar has its own Arbitration Act, originally enacted in 1895 and amended since, which is the consolidating statute for arbitral proceedings there and also transposes the international conventions on foreign arbitral awards. Gibraltar's legal system is English-law based, but the arbitration statute is Gibraltar's own.
What does choosing a Gibraltar seat actually decide?
It fixes the arbitration law governing the proceedings and the court that supervises them — the Supreme Court of Gibraltar — including appointment where the parties stall, challenges to an arbitrator, and applications about the award. It does not decide where hearings are held, which is a separate and changeable arrangement.
Can a Gibraltar award be enforced abroad?
That is one of the reasons parties choose a Gibraltar seat. The Act transposes the Geneva Convention of 1923 and the New York Convention of 1958 on foreign arbitral awards into domestic law, which provides the recognised route for enforcement outside Gibraltar.
Do we need an arbitral institution?
No, but ad hoc arbitration needs the agreement itself to adopt a rulebook and name an appointing authority — otherwise a disagreement about who the arbitrator should be has to go to court. Institutional rules cost more in fees and remove that risk.
One arbitrator or three?
One is faster and cheaper and suits most commercial disputes. Three suits high-value or technically complex matters and lets each side take part in constituting the tribunal. The template writes the correct appointment mechanism either way, including what happens if a party does not appoint.
Should the agreement mention VAT?
Not for a Gibraltar-supplied service — Gibraltar has no VAT system, so a VAT line copied from a United Kingdom or European Union precedent is simply inapplicable. This template leaves it out rather than carrying a clause that confuses the parties and their accountants.
Can I use an arbitration clause with consumers?
Approach it with advice rather than a template. Consumer contracts attract protective rules on unfair terms, and a clause imposed in standard terms on a consumer is far more exposed than a negotiated commercial clause. This template is drafted for business-to-business use and says so.
Should the agreement set a deadline for the award?
Better not to. A fixed period written into the agreement looks efficient but gives a losing party an argument that the tribunal lost its authority when it passed. This template has the tribunal set a proportionate timetable after consulting the parties instead.
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Disclaimer
This template and guide are for general information only and are not legal advice, and no Gibraltar lawyer has reviewed them for your matter. Gibraltar legislation is amended regularly — check the consolidated text in force on the Laws of Gibraltar portal before relying on any provision.
