Commentary on provisions of Act Final provisions Section 17: Commencement and transitional provision
Sections 16 (Extent), 17 (Commencement and transitional provision) and 18 (Short title) of this Act come into force on the day on which this Act is passed into law. The rest of this Act comes into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by regulations appoint. Those regulations may contain transitional and saving provisions. In the absence of such provisions, the amendments apply to arbitration agreements whenever made, but not to arbitration proceedings commenced before the date on which the rest of this Act comes into force, nor to legal proceedings in respect of such arbitration proceedings. An example of the latter might be legal proceedings to enforce an arbitral award, where the award was issued before this Act came into force.