Protecting the arbitration award: anti-enforcement injunctions

Subject to the restraints of EU law, the English courts regularly grant anti-suit injunctions to restrain a party to an arbitration clause from commencing judicial proceedings in a foreign court in breach of the arbitration clause. The mere fact that proceedings have been brought is sufficient to justify the grant of injunctive relief, without the need to prove oppressive or unconscionable behaviour on the part of the defendant.

The only real obstacle to the grant of relief isdelay on the part of the applicant for relief, particularly where the foreign proceedings have reached an advanced stage: comity demands respect for the foreign proceedings. It follows from the delay restriction that the possibility of obtaining an anti-suit injunction against enforcement of a judgment given in foreign proceedings is remote. In Sun Travels & Tours Pvt Ltd v Hilton International Manage (Maldives) Pvt Ltd [2019] SGCA 10 the Singapore Court of Appeal has undertaken a detailed analysis of the situations in which anti-enforcement relief will be granted.