A frequent feature of arbitration agreements, a time-bar clause sets a deadline of, for example, three months or less, within which if a party has not submitted a written claim for arbitration, any such claim is deemed waived and absolutely barred.
Such a clause replaces whatever limitation periods may be set out in a law of general application, a statute of limitations. Time-bar clauses typically impose much shorter time frames.
An example of a specific time-bar clause is the Centrocon Clause.
Jurists split hairs over time-bar clauses that, after a period of time, vitiate a claim as opposed to those which merely act as a deadline within which to make a claim. Since an arbitration agreement by definition ousts the jurisdiction of a court of law to resolve a given dispute, the distinction ought to be purely academic as the dramatic result to a claimant is the same in either case.
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