Last updated on 26 February 2025
Last updated on 26 February 2025
This Braintree Payment Services Agreement, and the agreements, policies, and documents incorporated herein, (this “Agreement”), is entered into by and between PayPal Pte. Ltd, a Singapore private limited company whose address is 5 Temasek Boulevard #09-01, Suntec Tower Five, Singapore 038985 (as defined herein) (“Braintree,” “PayPal,” “we,” or “our”) and the entity or individual who enters into this Agreement (“Merchant” or “you”). This Agreement sets out the terms and conditions under which you may utilize the Braintree Payment Services.
This Agreement becomes a legally binding contract and is effective as of the earliest date you do any of the following (the “Effective Date”):
Create an account on the Braintree website; Accept this Agreement online; or Begin using the Braintree Payment Services. This Agreement, as it may be amended from time to time, will be available on the “Legal” tab on the Braintree website. In addition to the terms of this Agreement, you agree to be bound by the terms of our Privacy Statement and Acceptable Use Policy, as well as your applicable Bank Agreement(s), which are incorporated herein by this reference.
In exchange for us providing you with the Braintree Payment Services, you agree to pay us the fees, including applicable transaction, multi-currency and Chargeback fees, as listed in the fee schedule, available at http://www.paypal.com/enterprise/paypal-braintree-fees, and incorporated herein by this reference. PayPal reserves the right to revise our fees at any time, subject to a thirty (30) day notice period to you prior to the new fees taking effect. Interest shall accrue at the lower rate of 1.5% per month, or the maximum amount permitted by law, on all overdue amounts. In the event that you have a good faith dispute as to the amounts due, you agree to pay the undisputed amounts. Interest shall not accrue on any disputed amounts so long as you pay such amounts within thirty (30) calendar days after resolution of the dispute.
Subject to the terms of this Agreement, PayPal will instruct the Acquirer to remit to your Bank Account or to a Hyperwallet Settlement Account (if available to you), as duly nominated by you, all amounts due to you from your Transactions, minus any fees, Reversals, Invalidated Payments, Chargebacks, Refunds, setoffs, or other amounts that you owe to PayPal under this Agreement. If the Payout is not sufficient to cover the amounts due, without limiting any other rights and remedies available to us, you agree that PayPal may debit your Bank Account for the applicable amounts, and/or set-off the applicable amounts against future Payouts. You authorize us to set-off, recoup, appropriate and to apply any and all balances or funds or other amounts that may be owed to you, against and on account of your obligations, whether such obligations are liquidated, unliquidated, fixed, contingent, matured or unmatured. Upon PayPal’s request, you agree to provide PayPal with all necessary bank account routing and related information and grant PayPal permission to debit amounts due from your Bank Account.
Except as otherwise specified herein, or as otherwise mutually agreed upon by the Parties, each Party will bear its own Taxes under this Agreement. Taxes means any taxes, charges, or similar assessments of any nature, including, without limitation, value-added, sales, digital services, stamp, transfer, or withholding taxes, assessable by any jurisdiction or governmental authority.
You are responsible for determining any and all Taxes assessed, incurred, or required to be collected, reported, paid, or withheld for any reason for the sale of your products and services and any Payouts you receive in connection with your use of the Braintree Payment Services. You are solely responsible for collecting, withholding, reporting and remitting correct Taxes to the appropriate tax authority. We are not obligated to, nor will we determine whether Taxes apply or assume any liability in relation thereto, or calculate, collect, report, or remit any Taxes to any tax authority arising from your transactions.
You acknowledge that PayPal may have a legal obligation to make reports, and will make such reports, to tax authorities regarding transactions that we process on your behalf.
Taxes on Braintree Payment Services. The Parties agree as follows:
Information Reporting
We may request that you provide PayPal with your tax identification number and/or other tax-related documentation or information. If you do not provide the requested information to PayPal or keep documentation up to date in your Braintree Payment Services account, you may be subject to limitations on your ability to use the Braintree Payment Services, withholding your Payouts, or placing a Reserve on your Payouts.
If you have a PayPal account, these terms are in addition to the terms in the PayPal User Agreement or any other applicable agreement between you and PayPal. In the event of a conflict, this Agreement will control with respect to your Braintree Payment Services account.
With respect to Merchant’s account activity accessible through the Braintree Payment Services, Merchant may report to PayPal any alleged discrepancy relating to Transactions, Payouts, fees and amounts owed by or to Merchant under this Agreement. Merchant shall notify PayPal in writing of any such discrepancy within ninety (90) days of the date the data is made available to Merchant through the Braintree Payment Services. Following the expiration of this period, Merchant’s account activity shall be deemed to be accepted and PayPal shall have no obligation to correct any errors or discrepancies identified after such period.
Where supported by the Acquirer and / card scheme(s), PayPal will process Transactions and Settle funds to you in the currency in which the Transaction was submitted for processing, provided you make available a bank account in a supported Scheme Settlement Currency to enable Settlement in this currency to you.
If PayPal is requested to apply a currency conversion to (a) Settle funds in another currency than the currency in which the Transaction was submitted for processing and (b) settlement is in a Scheme Settlement Currency, PayPal will apply a multi-currency fee.
If PayPal is requested to apply a currency conversion to (a) Settle funds in another currency than the currency in which the Transaction was submitted for processing and (b) settlement is in an Exotic Settlement Currency, PayPal will apply a multi-currency fee.
Where you require funds to Settle in an Exotic Settlement Currency, which is not supported by the Acquirer and / or card scheme(s), PayPal will Settle funds to you in the currency in which the Transaction was submitted for processing, provided you make available a bank account in the Exotic Settlement Currency to enable Settlement in such currency to you. PayPal will (a) source the Exotic Settlement Currency (b) apply a currency conversion as described above and (c) apply a multi-currency.
In connection with your use of the Braintree Payment Services, you must comply with the Braintree Acceptable Use Policy: https://www.paypal.com/legalhub/braintree/acceptable-use-policy.
You agree that you will not:
Merchant has the full power and authority to execute, deliver and perform this Agreement. This Agreement is binding and enforceable against Merchant and no provision requiring Merchant’s performance is in conflict with its obligations under any agreement to which Merchant is a party.
Merchant is duly organized, authorized and in good standing under the laws of the state, region or country of its organization and is duly authorized to do business in all other states, regions or countries in which Merchant’s business operates.
You are liable for all claims, expenses, fines and liability we incur arising out of:
In the event of an Invalidated Payment or other liability, in addition to our other rights and remedies (all of which are cumulative), we may (or may instruct Acquirer to) deduct, set-off or recoup, the amounts due to PayPal from your Payouts.
In addition to the above, if at any time you owe any amounts to us or any of our affiliates under this or any other agreement, PayPal may instruct the Acquirer to deduct the amounts owed from your Payouts or any amounts held in Reserve. This includes amounts owed to PayPal or any of our affiliates as a consequence of your use of our various products and services, which may include PayPal and Hyperwallet.
You authorize PayPal, directly or through third parties, to make any inquiries or take any actions we consider necessary to validate your identity, evaluate your creditworthiness, and verify information that you have provided to us. You authorize PayPal to obtain financial and credit information, such as pulling your personal credit report, or the credit report for your directors, officers, and principals. By completing your application to become a PayPal customer, you are providing PayPal with written instructions and authorization in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act to obtain such financial information or credit reports.
In the event that we are unsuccessful in receiving satisfactory information for us to verify your identity or determine that you are creditworthy, PayPal reserves the right to terminate this Agreement with immediate notice to you, cease to provide access to the Braintree Payment Services, and refuse or rescind any payment by your customers.
If we believe that your Transactions pose an unacceptable level of risk, that you have breached the terms of this Agreement, or that your account has been compromised, we may take various actions to avoid liability. The actions we may take include, but are not limited to, suspending or limiting your ability to use the Braintree Payment Services, refusing to process any Transaction, reversing a Transaction, instructing Acquirer to hold your Payouts, and contacting your customers to verify Transactions and reduce potential fraud and disputes. If possible, we will provide you with advance notice of our actions and resolution steps. However, advance notice will not be provided if there is an immediate need to take actions such as a security threat, potential fraud, or illegal activity.
PayPal, in its sole discretion, may instruct Acquirer to place a Reserve on a portion of your Payouts in the event that we believe that there is a high level of risk associated with your business, your Bank-sponsored Merchant Account, your PayPal account or your Transactions. If we place a reserve on your Payouts, we will provide you with notice specifying the terms of the Reserve. The terms may require that a certain percentage of your Payouts are held for a certain period of time, that a fixed amount of your Payouts are withheld from payout to you, or such other restrictions that PayPal determines in its sole discretion. PayPal may change the terms of the Reserve at any time by providing you with notice of the new terms.
PayPal may hold a Reserve as long as it deems necessary, in its sole discretion, to mitigate any risks related to your Transactions. You agree that you will remain liable for all obligations related to your Transactions even after the release of any Reserve. In addition, we may require you to keep your Bank Account available for any open settlements, Chargebacks and other adjustments.
To secure your performance of this Agreement, or any other obligation to PayPal or its Affiliates, you grant to PayPal a legal claim to the funds held in the Reserve. This is known in legal terms as a “lien” on and “security interest” in these amounts. You agree to duly execute and deliver to PayPal such instruments and documents as may be required to perfect and otherwise give effect to the lien and security interest granted to PayPal under this Agreement.
You agree to:
Merchant agrees to comply with applicable data privacy and security requirements under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (“Network PCI DSS Requirements”) and any applicable Network data security requirements (including those made available by Visa and MasterCard) with regards to Merchant’s use, access, and storage of certain credit card non-public personal information. In order to verify your compliance with Network PCI DCC Requirements, you must complete and demonstrate certification pursuant to any requirements that we notify to you. Additionally, Merchant agrees to comply with its obligations under any applicable law or regulation as may be in effect or as may be enacted, adopted or determined regarding the confidentiality, use, and disclosure of cardholder information. You must report any Customer Data breach or incident to PayPal and/or the Networks immediately after discovery of the incident. You also agree to ensure data quality and that any Customer Data is processed promptly, accurately and completely, and complies with the Networks’ technical specifications.
PayPal agrees to comply with the applicable Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard ("PCI DSS"). PayPal acknowledges that it is responsible for the security of cardholder data it possesses or otherwise stores, processes or transmits on behalf of the Merchant, or to the extent that PayPal could impact the security of the cardholder data environment.
The parties agree to comply with the data protection addendum here, which forms part of this Agreement. The terms of the data protection addendum prevail over any conflicting terms in this Agreement relating to data protection and privacy.
PayPal grants you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free limited license to access and/or use PayPal’s APIs, developer’s toolkit, and other software (the “Software”) in accordance with the accompanying documentation made available by PayPal for purposes of using the Braintree Payment Services. This license grant includes all updates, upgrades, new versions and replacement software for your use in connection with the Braintree Payment Services. If you do not comply with the documentation and any other requirements provided by PayPal, then you will be liable for all resulting damages suffered by you, PayPal and third parties. Unless otherwise provided by applicable law, you agree not to alter, reproduce, adapt, distribute, display, publish, reverse engineer, translate, disassemble, decompile or otherwise attempt to create any source code that is derived from the Software. Upon expiration or termination of this Agreement, you will immediately cease all use of any Software.
PayPal grants you a revocable, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use PayPal’s trademarks used to identify the Braintree Payment Service (the “Trademarks”) solely in conjunction with the use of the Braintree Payment Service. Merchant agrees that it will not at any time during or after this Agreement assert or claim any interest in or do anything that may adversely affect the validity of any Trademark or any other trademark, trade name or product designation belonging to or licensed to PayPal (including, without limitation registering or attempting to register any Trademark or any such other trademark, trade name or product designation). Upon expiration or termination of this Agreement, you will immediately cease all display, advertising and use of all of the Trademarks, including the logos and trademarks of the Networks.
Other than the express licenses granted by this Agreement, PayPal grants no right or license by implication, estoppel or otherwise to the Braintree Payment Service or any Intellectual Property Rights of PayPal. Each party shall retain all ownership rights, title, and interest in and to its own products and services (including in the case of PayPal, in the Braintree Payment Service) and all Intellectual Property Rights therein, subject only to the rights and licenses specifically granted herein.
Merchant hereby grants PayPal permissions to use Merchant’s name and logo in its marketing materials including, but not limited to use on Braintree’s website, in customer listings, in interviews and in press releases.
The parties acknowledge that in their performance of their duties hereunder either party may communicate to the other (or its designees) certain confidential and proprietary information, including without limitation information concerning the Braintree Payment Services and the know how, technology, techniques, or business or marketing plans related thereto (collectively, the “Confidential Information”) all of which are confidential and proprietary to, and trade secrets of, the disclosing party. Confidential Information does not include information that: (i) is public knowledge at the time of disclosure by the disclosing party; (ii) becomes public knowledge or known to the receiving party after disclosure by the disclosing party other than by breach of the receiving party’s obligations under this section or by breach of a third party’s confidentiality obligations; (iii) was known by the receiving party prior to disclosure by the disclosing party other than by breach of a third party’s confidentiality obligations; or (iv) is independently developed by the receiving party. As a condition to the receipt of the Confidential Information from the disclosing party, the receiving party shall: (i) not disclose in any manner, directly or indirectly, to any third party any portion of the disclosing party’s Confidential Information; (ii) not use the disclosing party’s Confidential Information in any fashion except to perform its duties hereunder or with the disclosing party’s express prior written consent; (iii) disclose the disclosing party’s Confidential Information, in whole or in part, only to employees and agents who need to have access thereto for the receiving party’s internal business purposes; (iv) take all necessary steps to ensure that its employees and agents are informed of and comply with the confidentiality restrictions contained in this Agreement; and (v) take all necessary precautions to protect the confidentiality of the Confidential Information received hereunder and exercise at least the same degree of care in safeguarding the Confidential Information as it would with its own confidential information, and in no event shall apply less than a reasonable standard of care to prevent disclosure.
Upon any termination or expiry of this Agreement, Braintree agrees, upon written request from Merchant, to provide Merchant’s new acquiring bank or payment service provider (“Data Recipient”) with any available credit card information including personal data relating to Merchant’s Customers (“Card Information”). In order to do so, Merchant must provide Braintree with all requested information including proof that the Data Recipient is in compliance with the Network PCI-DSS Requirements and is level 1 PCI compliant. Braintree agrees to transfer the Card Information to the Data Recipient so long as the following applies: (a) Merchant provides Braintree with proof that the Data Recipient is in compliance with the Network PCI-DSS Requirements (Level 1 PCI compliant) by providing Braintree a certificate or report on compliance with the Network PCI-DSS Requirements from a qualified provider and any other information reasonably requested by Braintree; (b) the transfer of such Card Information is compliant with the latest version of the Network PCI-DSS Requirements; and (c) the transfer of such Card Information is allowed under the applicable Network Rules, and any applicable laws, rules or regulations (including Data Protection Laws). Merchant agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Braintree, its parent, affiliates, officers, directors, agents, employees and suppliers from and against any lawsuit, claim, liability, loss, penalty or other expense (including solicitors’ costs on a solicitor-client basis) they may suffer or incur arising out of or in connection with the transfer of any data to a Data Recipient.
Merchant agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless PayPal, its parent, affiliates, officers, directors, agents, employees and suppliers from and against any lawsuit, claim, liability, loss, penalty or other expense (including attorneys’ fees and cost of defense) they may suffer or incur as a result of (i) your breach of this Agreement or any other agreement you enter into with PayPal or its suppliers in relation to your use of the Braintree Payment Services; (ii) your use of the Braintree Payment Services; (iii) your acts or omissions and/or (iv) your violation of any applicable law, regulation, or Network Rules and requirements.
PAYPAL SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR A THIRD PARTY FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, RELIANCE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR THE BRAINTREE PAYMENT SERVICES, WHETHER FORESEEABLE OR UNFORESEEABLE, AND WHETHER BASED ON BREACH OF ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, BREACH OF CONTRACT, MISREPRESENTATION, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY IN TORT, OR OTHER CAUSE OF ACTION (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF DATA, GOODWILL, PROFITS, INVESTMENTS, USE OF MONEY, OR USE OF FACILITIES; INTERRUPTION IN USE OR AVAILABILITY OF DATA; STOPPAGE OF OTHER WORK OR IMPAIRMENT OF OTHER ASSETS; OR LABOR CLAIMS), EVEN IF PAYPAL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL PAYPAL’S TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO MERCHANT OR ANY THIRD PARTY ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE DIRECT DAMAGES SUFFERED BY SUCH PARTY IN AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE AMOUNTS PAID OR PAYABLE BY MERCHANT TO PAYPAL UNDER THIS AGREEMENT DURING THE FIRST TWELVE (12) MONTH PERIOD AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS AGREEMENT.
THE BRAINTREE PAYMENT SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY WHATSOEVER. PAYPAL DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, TO MERCHANT AS TO ANY MATTER WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY PAYPAL OR ITS EMPLOYEES OR REPRESENTATIVES SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY OR IN ANY WAY INCREASE THE SCOPE OF PAYPAL’S OBLIGATIONS.
The parties acknowledge that the Braintree Payment Service is a computer network based service which may be subject to outages and delay occurrences. As such, PayPal does not guarantee continuous or uninterrupted access to the Braintree Payment Services. Merchant further acknowledges that access to the Braintree website or to the Braintree Payment Services may be restricted for maintenance. PayPal will make reasonable efforts to ensure that Transactions are processed in a timely manner; however, PayPal will not be liable for any interruption, outage, or failure to provide the Braintree Payment Services.
The term of this Agreement shall commence on the Effective Date and shall continue on until terminated as set forth herein. You may terminate this Agreement, without cause, by providing PayPal with notice of your intent to terminate, or by ceasing to use the Braintree Payment Services.
PayPal may terminate this Agreement or suspend services to you if any of the following occurs: (1) we are required by the Networks, the Acquirer, or an order from a regulatory body to cease providing services to you; (2) we believe that you have breached this Agreement, or are likely to do so; (3) if we determine that your use of the Braintree Payment Services carries an unacceptable amount of risk, including credit or fraud risk; or (4) any other legal, reputational, or risk-based reason exists, in PayPal’s sole discretion. In the event that PayPal must terminate this Agreement, PayPal shall provide you with written notice as soon as reasonably practicable.
After termination by either party as described above, Merchant shall no longer have access to, and shall cease all use of the Braintree Payment Services. Any termination of this Agreement does not relieve Merchant of any obligations to pay any fees, costs, penalties, Chargebacks or any other amounts owed by you to us as provided under this Agreement, whether accrued prior to or after termination.
If there is no processing activity through your Bank-sponsored Merchant Account(s) for a period of twelve (12) months or longer, PayPal may close such inactive Bank-sponsored Merchant Account(s) and terminate the Braintree Payment Services upon written notice. If any surplus funds are held by PayPal (for example, Reserves), these will be remitted to your Bank-sponsored Merchant Account, unless we are notified by you or on your behalf that these should be remitted to an alternative location.
The relationship of PayPal and Merchant is that of independent contractors. Neither Merchant nor any of its employees, consultants, contractors or agents are agents, employees, partners or joint ventures of PayPal, nor do they have any authority to bind PayPal by contract or otherwise to any obligation. None of such parties will represent anything to the contrary, either expressly, implicitly, by appearance or otherwise.
If any provision of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, void or unenforceable for any reason, the remaining provisions not so declared shall nevertheless continue in full force and effect, but shall be construed in a manner so as to effectuate the intent of this Agreement as a whole, notwithstanding such stricken provision or provisions.
No term or provision of this Agreement shall be deemed waived, and no breach excused, unless such waiver or consent shall be in writing and signed by the party claimed to have waived or consented. Any consent by any party to, or waiver of, a breach by the other party, whether express or implied, shall not constitute a consent to, waiver of, or excuse for any different or subsequent breach.
This Agreement will bind and inure to the benefit of each party’s permitted successors and assigns. Merchant may not assign this Agreement without the written consent of PayPal. PayPal may assign this Agreement in its sole discretion without the written consent of Merchant.
We may amend this Agreement at any time by posting a revised version of it on our website under the “Legal” section of our website. The revised version will be effective at the time we post it. In addition, if our changes reduce your rights or increase your responsibilities, we will provide you with at least 30 days’ prior notice by posting notice under the “Policy Updates” section contained in the “Legal” section of our website. If you do not agree to the updated terms, you can terminate your Agreement by providing us with notice in the manner indicated below in Section 9.09. If you provide us with termination notice within 30 days of the date of update, then your current terms and conditions shall apply during this notice period.
This Agreement sets forth the entire agreement and understanding of the parties hereto in respect to the subject matter contained herein, and supersedes all prior agreements, promises, covenants, arrangements, communications, representations or warranties, whether oral or written, by any officer, partner, employee or representative of any party hereto. This Agreement shall be binding upon and shall inure only to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors and permitted assigns. Nothing in this Agreement, express or implied, is intended to confer or shall be deemed to confer upon any persons or entities not parties to this Agreement, any rights or remedies under or by reason of this Agreement.
Sections 2 (Fees and Tax), 4 (Liability for Chargebacks, Invalidated Payments and other Liabilities), 5 (Actions We May Take), 6.09 (Confidential Information), 7 (Indemnification, Limitation of Liability, Disclaimer of Warranties), 8 (Term and Termination, Data Portability), 9 (General Provisions), and Exhibit “A” (Definitions), as well as any other terms which by their nature should survive, will survive the termination of this Agreement.
You consent to receive autodialed or prerecorded calls and text messages from PayPal at any telephone number that you have provided us or that we have otherwise obtained to (i) notify you regarding your account; (ii) collect a debt; (iii) resolve a dispute; (iv) contact you about exclusive offers; or (v) as otherwise necessary to service your account or enforce the Agreement. Standard telephone minute and text charges may apply.
We may share your telephone numbers with our service providers (such as billing or collections companies) who we have contracted with to assist us in pursuing our rights or performing our obligations under the Agreement, our policies, or any other agreement we may have with you. You agree these service providers may also contact you using autodialed or prerecorded calls and text messages, only as authorized by us to carry out the purposes we have identified above, and not for their own purposes.
PayPal may, without further notice or warning and in its discretion, monitor or record telephone conversations you or anyone acting on your behalf has with PayPal or its agents for quality control and training purposes or for its own protection.
If you have a question or complaint relating to the Braintree Payment Services or your Transactions, please contact the PayPal customer support as defined in the “Contact” tab of the Braintree website.
The general terms and conditions for the Braintree Payment Services will be available at all times on www.braintreepayments.com in the “Legal” tab, and/or be made available during signup process as an electronic copy per e-mail. You may request at any time free of charge electronic copy of your contractual documents.
For any claim (excluding claims for injunctive or other equitable relief) where the total amount of the award sought is less than $10,000.00 USD (or other currencies equivalents), the party requesting relief may elect to resolve the dispute in a cost effective manner through binding non-appearance-based arbitration. If a party elects arbitration, that party will initiate such arbitration through the Singapore International Arbitration Centre or any other established alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) provider mutually agreed upon by the parties. The ADR provider and the parties must comply with the following rules: a) the arbitration shall be conducted by telephone, online and/or be solely based on written submissions, the specific manner shall be chosen by the party initiating the arbitration; b) the arbitration shall not involve any personal appearance by the parties or witnesses unless otherwise mutually agreed by the parties; and c) any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.