6. Enforcement of international arbitration agreement

Despite Article 8 of the Model Law, where any party to an arbitration agreement to which this Act applies institutes any proceedings in any court against any other party to the agreement in respect of any matter which is the subject of the agreement, any party to the agreement may, at any time after filing and serving a notice of intention to contest or not contest and before delivering any pleading (other than a pleading asserting that the court does not have jurisdiction in the proceedings) or taking any other step in the proceedings, apply to that court to stay the proceedings so far as the proceedings relate to that matter.

The court to which an application has been made in accordance with subsection (1) is to make an order, upon such terms or conditions as the court thinks fit, staying the proceedings so far as the proceedings relate to the matter, unless it is satisfied that the arbitration agreement is null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed.

Where a court makes an order under subsection (2), the court may, for the purpose of preserving the rights of parties, make any interim or supplementary order that the court thinks fit in relation to any property which is the subject of the dispute to which the order under that subsection relates.

Where no party to the proceedings has taken any further step in the proceedings for a period of at least 2 years after an order staying the proceedings has been made, the court may, on its own motion, make an order discontinuing the proceedings without prejudice to the right of any of the parties to apply for the discontinued proceedings to be reinstated.

For the purposes of this section and sections 7 and 11A —