11.—(1) A Singapore court, designated in an exclusive choice of court agreement for the purposes of deciding a dispute, has jurisdiction to decide the dispute, unless the agreement is null and void under the law of Singapore.
(2) A Singapore court that has jurisdiction under subsection (1) cannot decline to exercise jurisdiction on the ground that the dispute should be decided in a court of another State.
(3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), a Singapore court may decline to exercise jurisdiction in any other circumstances that the Minister may prescribe by regulations made under section 22.
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) do not affect any written law that —
(a)
restricts the subject matter or value of a claim that a Singapore court has jurisdiction to decide; or
(b)
allocates jurisdiction to different courts in Singapore.
(5) Where a chosen court in Singapore has a discretion whether to transfer to another Singapore court a case to which an exclusive choice of court agreement applies, the chosen court must, before exercising that discretion, take into account the parties’ choice of court.
Where Singapore court is not chosen court
12.—(1) Despite any other written law or rule of law, if an exclusive choice of court agreement does not designate any Singapore court as a chosen court, a Singapore court must stay or dismiss any case or proceeding to which the agreement applies, unless the Singapore court determines that —
(a)
the agreement is null and void under the law of the State of the chosen court;
(b)
a party to the agreement lacked the capacity, under the law of Singapore, to enter into or conclude the agreement;
(c)
giving effect to the agreement would lead to a manifest injustice or would be manifestly contrary to the public policy of Singapore;
(d)
the agreement cannot reasonably be performed for exceptional reasons beyond the control of the parties to the agreement; or
(e)
the chosen court has decided not to hear the case or proceeding.
(2) This section does not affect the ability of a Singapore court to stay or dismiss the case or proceeding on other grounds.
