Commentary on provisions of Act Powers of the court in relation to award Section 12: Challenging the award: time limit
The 1996 Act provides that an arbitral award can be challenged before the courts on the basis that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction (section 67), or on the basis of serious irregularity (section 68), or the award can be appealed on a point of law (section 69). In all cases, the challenge must comply with the further requirements of section 70 of the 1996 Act.
	By section 70 of the 1996 Act, an applicant must first exhaust any available arbitral process of appeal or review (section 70(2)(a)) and any available recourse under section 57 to correct the award or issue an additional award (section 70(2)(b)). The application to court must be made within 28 days.
	Section 12 of this Act amends section 70 of the 1996 Act to clarify that the time limit of 28 days begins to run after any arbitral appeal or any application under section 57 of the 1996 Act. (In any other case, it begins to run from the date of the award.)