Amendments Nos. 1 and 10 are taken together.
Arbitration (International Commercial) Bill, 1997: Report and Final Stages.
I move: That the Bill be recommitted in respect of amendment No. 1:
In page 3, line 11, to delete "THE ARBITRATION ACT, 1954" and substitute "THE ARBITRATION ACTS, 1954 AND 1980,".
I move amendment No. 6:
In page 8, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following:
"(8) A person who is a patent agent as defined in section 94(3) of the Patents Act, 1992, or a registered agent as defined in section 91(3) of the Trade Marks Act, 1996, shall have the same privileges and immunities referred to in subsection (7) when appearing in proceedings before an arbitral tribunal on—
(a) in the case of a patent agent, any matter concerning the protection of an invention, patent, design or technical information or any matter involving passing off, and
(b) in the case of a registered agent, any matter relating to the protection of a trade mark or any matter involving passing off. ".
I move amendment No. 10:
In page 10, after line 26, to insert the following:
18. —Section 5 of the Arbitration Act, 1980, is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2):
‘(3) Nothing in this section shall prevent any party to an arbitration agreement from invoking the alternative method, provided by the Rules of Court (as amended from time to time), of commencing and dealing with a civil proceeding in respect of a small claim.'.".