Section 6

Notwithstanding Article 8 of the Model Law, where any party to an arbitration agreement to which this Act applies institutes any proceedings in any court against any other party to the agreement in respect of any matter which is the subject of the agreement, any party to the agreement may, at any time after entering an appearance and before delivering any pleading or taking any other step in the proceedings, apply to that court to stay the proceedings so far as they relate to that matter.

The court to which an application has been made in accordance with subsection (1) shall make an order, upon such conditions as it may think fit, staying the proceedings so far as they relate to that matter, unless it is satisfied that the arbitration agreement is void, inoperative or incapable of being performed.

Where a court makes an order under subsection (2), the court may, for the purpose of preserving the rights of parties, make such interim or supplementary orders as it may think fit in relation to any property which is the subject of the dispute to which the order under that subsection relates.

Where no party to the proceedings has taken any further step in the proceedings for a period of not less than 2 years after an order staying the proceedings has been made, the court may, on its own motion, make an order discontinuing the proceedings without prejudice to the right of any of the parties to apply for the discontinued proceedings to be reinstated.

For the purposes of this section and sections 7 and 14 —