The role and future of the International Bar Association Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration following the revision of the Arbitration Act in England and Wales

The 2025 amendments to the Arbitration Act 1996 mark a significant recalibration of the English approach to arbitrator impartiality and disclosure. By introducing a statutory duty of disclosure in s.23A, the Parliament has transformed what was previously a common-law obligation into a mandatory rule of public policy, incapable of contractual exclusion. This development raises important questions about the continued role of the International Bar Association (IBA) Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration, long regarded as the leading soft-law framework governing disclosure decisions in international practice. This article examines how the statutory standard introduced by s.23A interacts with, and in some respects departs from, the structured and example-driven approach of the IBA Guidelines, particularly in relation to temporal limits, benign professional interactions and repeat appointments. It argues that while the Act establishes a binding and open-textured legal baseline, its breadth and lack of detailed guidance are likely to increase uncertainty and defensive disclosure. Against this backdrop, the IBA Guidelines retain an important complementary role by supplying practical context for assessing conflicts in a globalised arbitral environment. The article concludes by considering whether and how the Guidelines mayneed to evolve to remain aligned with emerging statutory disclosure regimes.