The Sri Lanka Act provides that an arbitration agreement shall be in writing. It can be contained in a signed document or in an exchange of letters, telexes, telegrams or other means of telecommunications which provide a record of the agreement (section 4).
The Sri Lanka Act provides that by an agreement "any dispute" can be determined by arbitration "unless the matter in respect of which the arbitration agreement is entered into, is contrary to public policy or is not capable of determination by arbitration" (section 4).
[The Act does not elaborate the two exceptions mentioned above.]
If legal proceedings are instituted in court by a party to an arbitration agreement, in respect of a matter covered by the arbitration agreement, the court shall have no jurisdiction to hear and determine the same, if the other party objects under (section 5).
