One of the fundamental principles of arbitrations is that they are confidential between the parties. The general rule is that arbitration awards are not published in the public domain and can only be challenged in the court – which provides essential judicial oversight where, for example, an arbitrator has made an error of law or has been guilty of bias or procedural irregularity.
However, in some cases, a regulator may have a power of oversight. That is the case with arbitrations under the Pubs Code, which are overseen by the Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA). The PCA routinely publishes awards made in Pubs Code arbitration cases to create greater transparency in the arbitration process and provide what it describes as “equality of arms” between pub companies and tied tenants. It also publishes appeal decisions where arbitration awards have been appealed to the court.
In addition to the publication of awards and court judgments, the PCA has legal powers to request information or documents from an arbitration for regulatory purposes and it uses those powers pro-actively. The most recent example of such intervention was in an arbitration where the pub tenant had been ordered to pay a proportion of the arbitrator’s costs, which the PCA considered to be wrong as a matter of law. It therefore engaged with the pub company (Marston’s) which agreed to pay the arbitrator’s costs in full. The PCA press release on this case can be read here.
