Section 5, The Arbitration Act, 2022

(1) An arbitration agreement shall be in writing and itscontent shall be recorded in any form, whether or not the arbitration agreement or contract has been concluded orally, by conduct or by other means. (2) An electronic communication shall, for the purposes of an arbitration agreement under subsection (1), be deemed to be in writing if - (a) the information contained therein is accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference; (b) it is contained in an exchange of statements of claim or statements of defence in which the existence of an agreement is alleged by one party and not denied by the other. (3) A reference in a contract to a document containing an arbitration clause constitutes an arbitration agreement in writing, provided that the reference is such as to make that clause part of the contract. (4) Subject to subsection (1) of section 9, unless the parties agree otherwise, an arbitration agreement shall be irrevocable. Arbitration agreement shall be in writing. "premises" includes land, buildings, moveable structures, vehicles, vessels, aircraft and hovercraft; "public holiday" includes a day listed as a public holiday in the schedule to the Public Holidays Act, Cap. 58 of the Laws of Sierra Leone; "seat of arbitration" means the juridical seat of an arbitration for purposes of determination of the law that will govern the arbitration proceedings; "Third-Party Funder" means a natural or legal person who is not a party to a dispute but who enters into an agreement either with a disputing party, an affiliate of that party or a law firm representing that party, in order to finance part or all of the cost of the proceedings, either individually or as part of a selected range of cases and such financing is provided either through a donation or grant or in return for reimbursement dependent on the outcome of the dispute or in return for a premium payment; "Third-Party Funding Agreement" means a contract between a Third-Party Funder and a disputing party, an affiliate of that party or a law firm representing that party, in order to finance part or all of the costs of the proceedings, either individually or as part of a selected range of cases, and such financing is provided either through a donation or grant or in return for reimbursement dependent on the outcome of the dispute or in return for a premium payment. 2. (1) This Act shall apply to - (a) domestic arbitration and international arbitration where the seat of arbitration is Sierra Leone; (b) an arbitration agreement to which the Government of Sierra Leone is a party; and (c) arbitral proceedings commenced on or after the commencement of this Act under an arbitration agreement whether made before or after the commencement of this Act. (2) This Act shall not apply to arbitral proceedings originated before the commencement of this Act, unless the parties have agreed otherwise. 3. (1) The Limitation Act, 1961 shall apply to domestic arbitral proceedings. (2) In computing the time prescribed by the Limitation Act, 1961 for the commencement of proceedings in respect of an award or of the affected part of an award, which the Court orders to be set aside in part or declares to be of no effect in part, the Court may order that the period between the commencement of the arbitration and the date of the order shall be excluded. (3) In determining, for the purposes of the Limitation Act, 1961, when a cause of action accrued, a provision that an arbitral award is a condition precedent to the bringing of legal proceedings in respect of a matter to which an arbitration agreement applies shall be disregarded. (4) In computing the time for the commencement of proceedings to enforce an arbitral award, the period between the commencement of the arbitration and the date of the award shall be excluded. 4. The application and construction of this Act shall be based on the following guiding principles - (a) that an arbitration is to resolve disputes fairly, impartially and efficiently without unnecessary delay or expense; 6 7 of Act. of Limitation Act, 1961. Guiding principles.