Enforcement of arbitration awards: law applicable to the arbitration agreement

The key issue in Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait) [2020] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 269, enforcement proceedings in England for an award issued by a tribunal in an arbitration seated in Paris, was whether the arbitration clause in a contract governed by English law was also governed by English law. If so, it was clear that under English law the tribunal had no jurisdiction.

The question here was not the usual one of whether a choice of law for the main agreement implied the same choice for the arbitration clause, but rather whether there had been an express choice of English law for the arbitration clause.