Note on the Translation: The following text translates into English the new Spanish Arbitration Act (Ley 60/2003 de 23 de diciembre, de Arbitraje), passed under urgency on December 23, 2003. It was officially published on December 26, 2003 in the Boletín Oficial del Estado, and will come into force on March 26, 2004. The Act is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, with significant changes. Wherever possible and appropriate we have used the English language of the UNCITRAL Model Law in this translation. The Spanish text of the Act begins with a lengthy Statement of Purposes (Exposición de Motivos), which is not translated here. The Statement of Purposes is not a normative part of a Spanish enactment. The Act contains some expressions for which there is not a precise equivalent in either the UNCITRAL Model Law or the common law, or where the usage is unusual. It also makes references to other Spanish legislation. We have used occasional explanatory footnotes in these circumstances.