Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, visited the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) and Qatar last week as part of a state visit to the Middle East. This visit led to the signing of the India-UAE bilateral investment treaty between Indian Prime Minister Modi and the UAE’s president, Mohamed Bin Zayed on 13 February 2024. Along with the…

The United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) courts have traditionally held that arbitration is an exceptional means of resolving disputes. However, in recent years, there has been a significant shift in the UAE courts’ approach with decisions confirming that arbitration is not merely an exceptional means of resolving parties’ disputes, but an equal alternative to litigation. In…

On 29 September 2023, the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”)’s recently published Federal Law No. 15 of 2023 (“Amendment Law”) entered into force, effectively amending Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 On Arbitration (“2018 Arbitration Law”) that was adopted a mere five years earlier. The 2018 Arbitration Law was itself a long-awaited and significant rehaul of…

In a recent ruling of 8 June 2023 in Case No. 1514 of 2022, the Dubai Court of Cassation has taken a fresh look at a number of procedural questions that frequently arise in UAE-seated arbitrations under the 2018 UAE Federal Arbitration Law (“FAL”). There are three particular issues stemming from this recent ruling of…

Fatima, thank you for joining us on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog and congratulations on your recent appointment as Director of SCCA Dubai, as SCCA opens its doors to its first regional office outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”). We are grateful to have the opportunity to share your unique perspective with our readers. Your…

On 21 April 2022, the Dubai Court of Cassation (the “Cassation Court”) issued a judgment in respect of an application for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration award in case no. 109 of 2022 (the “Judgment”, available in Arabic-only on the Court’s website). In the Judgment, the Cassation Court considered whether an arbitration award…

A topic that has been hugely debated in the arbitration world is whether non-payment of the advance on arbitration costs constitutes waiver of the arbitration clause. The answer to this debate does not only differ from one jurisdiction to another but may differ in the same jurisdiction. This blog post examines how the courts in…

The United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) adhered to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, also known as the New York Convention (“New York Convention”) in 2006. Joining the New York Convention was done through Federal Decree No. 43 of  2006. This post examines how the New York Convention has been implemented…

The authority required to agree to arbitration on behalf of a juristic person has been a heavily debated issue in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”). This blog post examines relevant legislation and case law with respect to limited liability companies and public joint stock companies in an attempt to reach a conclusion on what type…

At the dawn of the New Year, following their adoption in November 2020, the revised DIFC-LCIA Rules of Arbitration (the “2021 DIFC-LCIA Rules”) have now entered into force with effect from 1st January 2021. Readers of this blog will recognise the DIFC-LCIA as the free zone sister organization of the London Court of Arbitration (LCIA)…

The announcement on 13 August 2020 of a rapprochement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (‘UAE’) took the world by surprise. Seasoned regional observers noted quiet cooperation and cross-border transactions over the past few years, but few expected these covert relationships to burst into public view so fully and wholeheartedly. The joint declaration, soon…

How severely are international construction projects affected by global COVID-19 pandemic? What does the COVID-19 pandemic mean for international construction disputes? As with so many other questions arising in relation to the pandemic, these questions will only be answered definitively in retrospect. For construction arbitration practitioners though, one of the immediate and graspable effects has…

This year, I had the extraordinary pleasure of speaking at the Emirate Maritime Arbitration Centre (the “EMAC”) inaugural event of Dubai Arbitration Week 2019 (for the full presentation, see here). The EMAC, as readers may know, is the only arbitration institution specialized in the administration of maritime disputes through arbitration in the UAE and the…

Introduction There have, more recently, been a number of views on the proper scope of the jurisdiction of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”) as an arbitral seat. According to one view, there are no limitations to the scope of arbitration in the ADGM, according to another, more cautious view, arbitration in the ADGM requires…

Introduction The Dubai International Arbitration Centre (“DIAC”) is a regional arbitration centre created by statue in 1994 as part of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (the “Chamber”). On 23 April 2019, the Ruler of Dubai issued Decree No. 17 of 2019 approving a new statute for DIAC (the “New DIAC Statute”). The New…

Introduction On 9 December 2018, the UAE adopted Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018, which entered into force on 16 February 2019 (the “Cabinet Resolution“). The Cabinet Resolution introduces significant amendments to the UAE Civil Procedure Code (Federal Law No. 11 of 1992), which considerably enhance a wide array of procedures before the UAE onshore…

Introduction The United Arab Emirates (the “UAE”) is a signatory to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1958 (the “NYC”), which was adopted into UAE law by Federal Decree No. 43 of 2006. However, there have been instances where the lower courts of the UAE have come…

In June 2018, the long awaited UAE Federal Arbitration Law (Law No. 6 of 2018) entered into force, repealing the arbitration specific provisions (“UAE Arbitration Chapter”) contained in the UAE Civil Procedure Code (Law No. 11 of 1992). Whilst it is fair to say that the new UAE Federal Arbitration Law failed overall to meet…

At the dawn of the New Year, it is time to provide an update on the Dubai International Financial Court (DIFC)’s role as a conduit. Since the DIFC’s first entry onto the jurisdictional landscape as a conduit for the recognition and enforcement of awards for onward execution against assets of award debtors in onshore Dubai,…

The year of 2018 brought a wave of important arbitration events, developments, precedents and legislative reforms in the Middle East.  Join the Kluwer Arbitration Blog’s (KAB) regional editorial team (Dalal Al Houti, Zahra Rose Khawaja, and Gloria Alvarez) as we reflect on a few of these developments and thank the authors who enabled us to provide…

As a development in the arbitration scene and as a bid to attract investment, the UAE modified article 257 of its Penal Code so as to exclude arbitrators from its coverage (Federal Code No. 24 of 2018). The old version of article 257 of the UAE Penal Code (as had been introduced by Federal Code…

Participants at this year’s Dubai Arbitration Week gathered for the ICC conference hosted by Al Tamimi & Co on 14 November 2018. The conference featured a lively roundtable discussion on the subject of “Arbitrator Disclosure – Local Flavour or International Standards?” chaired by Nadia Darwazeh. The panel comprised practitioners from across the MENA region and…

Since the inaugural programme in 2014, arbitration practitioners from the MENA region and beyond have come together to share and discuss recent developments in the field of international arbitration during the Dubai Arbitration Week, an annual event that takes place in November. Dubai Arbitration Week 2018 was no exception. It was full of seminars, conferences,…

Arbitration in the UAE is governed by the Federal Arbitration Law No. 6 of 2018 (“UAE Arbitration Law”). The UAE Arbitration Law, which entered into force in June 2018, repealed Articles 203 to 218 of the UAE Civil Procedures Law No. 11 of 1992 (“CPC”), which previously governed arbitration in the UAE. Unlike the former…