Section 2(b) of The Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 refres section 7 of the Act.According to section 7 ” (1) Arbitration agreement means an agreement by the parties to submit all or certain dispute which have arisen or which may arise between them in respect of a defined legal relationship, whether contractual or not.
(2) An arbitration agreement may be in the form of an arbitration clause in a contract or in the form of seprate agreement.
(3) An arbitration agreement shall be in
writting .
(4) An arbitration agreement is in writting if
it is contained in –
(a) A document signed by the parties;
(b) An exchange of letters, telex, telegrams
or other means of telecommunication
including communication through
electronics means which provide a
record of the agreement. ; or
(c) An exchange of statements of claims
and defences in which the existence
of the agreement is alleaged by one
party and denied by other .
(5) The reference in contract to a document containing an arbitration clause constitute an arbitration agreement if the contract is in writting and the reference is such as to make that arbitration clause part of the contract.