Facts
The plaintiff, a China company, entered into an agreement to buy goods from
the defendant, a Singapore company. A dispute arose and the plaintiff submitted
it to arbitration in China in accordance with the terms of the contract. The
defendant, however, took the view thatthe tribunal had no jurisdiction and
refused to take part in the proceedings. The tribunal ruled in favour of the
plaintiff in April 1994, but the defendant failed to satisfy the award. In October
1994, the plaintiff successfully applied for an order to enforce the award. The
defendant then applied to set aside the order and a further order that the arbitral
award not be enforced against it. These applications were dismissed by the
assistant registrar, and the defendant appealed to the High Court arguing that:
(a) the order failed to comply with O 69 r7(7) of the Rules ofthe Supreme Court
(Cap 322, R 5, 1990 Ed) (“RSC”) in that the required endorsement specifying the
period of time the defendant had to apply to set aside the award was omitted