Cap. 387 Art. 36Evidence.

(1) Subject to the provisions of article 37, the evidence of witnesses in an arbitration shall be produced either viva voce or by affidavit, and subject to the relevant articles of this Part, the rules of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure and of any law from time to time in force in Malta shall apply to the production of evidence viva voce or by affidavit before the arbitral tribunal as they apply to the production of evidence before a court of civil jurisdiction.

(2) The Centre may make rules setting down the terms within which the evidence is to be produced and the manner of its production, and the parties may, notwithstanding the foregoing and the provisions of subarticle (1), agree that the evidence of witnesses is to be produced within such times and in such manner as may be determined by the parties: Provided that such agreement may not be incompatible with any rule made by the Centre and declared by it to be inderogable.

(3) Subject to the provisions of article 37(2), where the evidence of any person is required, the registrar may issue writs of subpoena to compel the attendance of a witness to give evidence or produce documents before an arbitral tribunal. The application for the issue of the writ shall be countersigned by the sole arbitrator, or the presiding arbitrator, and shall be filed in the registry of the Civil Court, First Hall, by the registrar.

(4) The provisions of subarticle (3) shall apply mutatis mutandis where for the purposes of proceedings before an arbitral tribunal, a rogatory commission or letters of request are required to be issued in respect of, or an affidavit is required by, a person who is not resident within the jurisdiction of the courts of Malta.

(5) Upon the filing of an application to which subarticles (3) and

(4) apply, the court which, had there not been an arbitration agreement, would otherwise have had jurisdiction shall notify the writ or otherwise act on the application in the same manner as if such application or such writ had been issued or approved by the Civil Court, First Hall.

(6) Where any person who has been regularly subpoenaed to Hall, requesting it to deal with the matter in the same manner as if the person concerned had failed to appear before that court when regularly subpoenaed and thereupon the court shall deal with the matter in the said manner.