Stay of judicial proceedings: existence of arbitration agreement

In IS Prime Ltd v TF Global Markets (UK) Ltd [2020] EWHC 3375 (Comm) the parties had a tiered dispute resolution provision which included non-binding “arbitration”. The issue before Andrew Baker J was whether such a process was “arbitration” within the Arbitration Act 1996 so as to require a stay of English proceedings brought before the process had been exhausted. If not, the further question was whether the proceedings should be stayed under the general powers of the court.

ISP : the facts