Case number: 29
Article number: model arbitration law / 2; 35; 36
Thessaurs issue:
Country of decision: Canada
Year of decision: 1992
Type of decision: Judicial decision

Case 29: MAL 2;35;36
Canada: Ontario Court, General Division (While J.) 30 January 1992
Kanto Yakin Kogyo Kabushiki-Kaisha v. Can-Eng Manufacturing Ltd. Published in English: 7 Ontario Reports (3d), 779
Commented on by Tetley in [1993] Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, 238

Concluding an agreement prior to the existence of legislation implementing MAL will not mean that MAL will not apply to
arbitrations taking place pursuant to the agreement.

The parties concluded an agreement which contained an arbitration clause and provided that arbitration would take place in
Tokyo. Arbitration of an issue arising out of the agreement was held and an award was made. Kanto Yakin sought to enforce
the award in Ontario. The court found that, despite the fact that the agreement was concluded prior to the coming into force of
the International Commercial Arbitration Act, Revised Statutes of Ontario, 1990, c. 1.9, which enacts MAL, the agreement
was still an arbitration agreement governed by the Act and was enforceable as such.