An Act that renames the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre to the India International Arbitration Centre has now come into force.

The new law titled the ‘New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Act, 2022’, came into force after the Ministry of Law and Justice in a notification issued late January 27 night made the announcement. “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 1 of the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Act, 2022 (23 of 2022), the Central Government hereby appoints the 27th day of January 2023 as the date on which the said Act shall come into force,” reads the notification.

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The move comes almost one-and-half month after the Parliament passed the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (Amendment) Bill, 2022 during proceedings of the Winter Session in December last year. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 8 in 2022, and the Rajya Sabha passed it on December 14, 2022.

After turning into Law, the Act amended the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre Act, 2019. The Act also provides for setting up the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre and designates it as an institute of national importance.

The New Delhi International Arbitration Centre replaced the International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution.

It amends Section 15(a) of the principal Act and facilitates the conduct of arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution mechanism, both international and domestic, in the manner as may be specified by the regulations.

The Act renames the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre as the India International Arbitration Centre.

The Act also corrects several drafting errors in the Arbitration Centre Act, 2019. The Act requires the Arbitration Centre to strive to facilitate the conduct of international and domestic arbitration and conciliation. The Act expands to include the conduct of other forms of alternative dispute resolution. The manner of conduct of arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution will be specified by the central government through regulations.

The Act allows the central government to provide for removing any difficulties in implementing the Act up to two years from the date of commencement of the Act. The Act extends this time period to five years.

The Law Minister had assured the Parliament in December that the institution will have a pre-determined arbitration procedure, which will be laid down by the Arbitration Centre itself, and that there will be no government intervention in the institution.

He had further assured that the institution will have an efficient panel of arbitrators, professional support and world-class well-built infrastructure, which in turn will increase the ease of doing business in India.