DIAC, DIFC, Enforceability, Enforcement, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, MENA, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, UAE

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent ruling of 20 June 2024 (ARB 009/2024 Narcisco v. Nash), the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”) Court of First Instance (“DIFC CFI”) was asked, as part of a wider investigation to grant an anti-suit injunction, to consider the validity of an arbitration agreement that provided for arbitration under the DIFC-London Court of…

DIAC, Enforceability, Enforcement, Enforcement of arbitration agreement, MENA, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /1 Comment

Two recent judgments, one from the United States (US) District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (“Louisiana Court”) and another from the Singapore High Court (“Singapore Court”), have highlighted the difficulties that Decree No. 34/2021(Concerning the Dubai International Arbitration Centre) (“Decree No. 34/2021”) may cause to the enforceability of DIFC-LCIA arbitration clauses in arbitrations…

MENA, UAE, UAE Federal Arbitration Law

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

Recent amendments to Federal Law No. 6 on 2018 on Arbitration, the UAE Federal Arbitration Law (“FAL”), introduced by Federal Decree Law No. 15 of 2023 (Amending Certain Provisions of Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 on Arbitration) (“Amendment Law”), give rise to concerns that in an endeavour to improve certain provisions of the FAL,…

Advance on Costs, Arbitration Agreement, DIAC, Dubai

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent decision, Case No. 10/2023 dated 24 October 2023, the General Assembly of the Dubai Court of Cassation decided to reverse a position introduced by the Dubai Courts of Cassation in around 2013 (see, e.g., Case No. 379/2013 (Real Estate), ruling of the Dubai Court of Cassation; and then also affirmed in Case…

Advance on Costs, DIAC, Dubai, Jurisdiction, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Arbitration, DIAC, DIFC, Dubai, MENA

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

The recent adoption of Decree No. 34/2021 (see Dubai Government Decree No. 34 of 2021, which entered into force with effect from 20 September 2021) provides for the consolidation of local arbitration centers into a single institution, the Dubai International Arbitration Centre 2.0 (DIAC 2.0). Some perspectives on Decree No. 34/2021 have already been shared…

ADGM, UAE

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

The 2015 Arbitration Regulations of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”), the Abu Dhabi-based financial free zone, (the “2015 ADGM Arbitration Regulations”) (consolidated text The Amendment focuses on a number of areas to enhance the efficient operation of the 2015 ADGM Arbitration Regulations, including in particular a clarification of the scope of an arbitration agreement…

Confidentiality, Consolidation, DIFC, Emergency Arbitrator, Expedited Proceedings, LCIA Rules, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

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)…

Abu Dhabi, ADGM, DIFC, Dubai, Free Trade Zones, MENA, Middle East, UAE

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

As some readers of this blog will, no doubt, be aware, free zone arbitration is a comparatively recent phenomenon that has been championed in particular by the UAE in order to create an alternative to arbitrations seated onshore. By way of reminder, in the UAE, free zone arbitrations are seated in one of the judicial…

Abu Dhabi, ADGM, DIFC, Dubai, Free Trade Zones, MENA, Middle East, UAE

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

This is Part 2 of a blog published in two parts. Part 1 dealt with the Abu Dhabi Global Market Court of First Instance (“ADGMCFI”)’s rulings in A3 v. B3 [2019] ADGMCFI 0004 (4 July 2019), enforcing an ADGM arbitration agreement, and in A4 v. B4 [2019] ADGMCFI 0007 (8 October 2019), enforcing a foreign…

Arbitral seat, Enforceability, Enforcement, Judgment, Jurisdiction

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

In a ruling of 11 December 2019 (see Cassation No. 8/2019 (JT) – Al Taena: AF Construction Company LLC (formerly Al Futtaim Carillion – Abu Dhabi LLC v. Power Transmission Gulf), the Dubai-DIFC Joint Judicial Tribunal, also commonly known as the “Judicial Tribunal” or simply the “JT”, was required to deal with the conflicting jurisdiction…

Abu Dhabi, ADR, Arbitration institution, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Abu Dhabi, Arbitration, Jurisdiction, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

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…

DIFC, DIFC conduit jurisdiction, Dubai, Middle East, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

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,…

Criminal law and arbitration, Expert evidence, Experts, Party appointed arbitrator, party-appointed, UAE

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

With 2018 drawing to a close, the UAE legislature has ushered in a long-awaited amendment to Art. 257 of the UAE Penal Code (see Decree issuing Federal Law No. (24) of 2018 amending certain provisions of the Federal Law no. (3) of 1987 issuing the Penal Code). Readers of Kluwer Blog will remember that that…

onshore arbitration, UAE, UAE arbitration chapter, UAE Federal Arbitration Law

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

The adoption of the UAE Federal Arbitration Law  has kept the specialist arbitration profession in the waiting for the better part of a decade. It was finally adopted earlier this week, to the great acclaim of the local and international arbitration community. The new Law, Law No. 6 of 2018, will apply within 30 days…

DIFC, DIFC conduit jurisdiction, Non-arbitrability, Public Policy, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral award

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

To readers of this Blog, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is well known as an arbitration-friendly seat of arbitration in its own right. Developments there are fast apace and have more recently given rise to two challenge actions that, in turn, have raised considerations of arbitrability within the DIFC and the status of the…

Advocacy, Dubai, UAE

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

At the dawn of the New Year, foreign arbitration specialists will welcome some reassurance to the effect that the amendments made to the UAE Advocacy Law, also known as Federal Law No. (23) of 1991 on the Regulation of the Legal Profession, in November 2017 (see Ministerial Resolution No. (972) of 2017 on the Executive…

DIFC, DIFC conduit jurisdiction, Dubai

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

A recent decision of the Dubai-DIFC Judicial Tribunal (the “JT”) (see Cassation No. 6/2017 (JT) – Assas Investments Limited v. Fius Capital Limited) – even though not quite a saving grace – appears to throw a lifeline to the DIFC Courts in their role as a conduit jurisdiction. Regular readers of this Blog will recall…

Arbitration, DIFC, Dubai

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

This is the final one in sequel of four parts on the status of the DIFC Courts as a conduit jurisdiction. It reports on a further number of recent decisions of the Dubai-DIFC Judicial Committee – also known as the Judicial Tribunal or in shorthand the JT – that question the DIFC Courts’ role as…

Dubai, Enforcement, English Arbitration Act, State Immunity

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /1 Comment

A recent ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance (see Claim No. ARB 003/2017 – Pearl Petroleum Company Limited & Others v. The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq [2017] DIFC ARB 003) deals with the question as to whether a State immunity defence may be available to a State entity or a governmental defendant…

DIFC, Dubai

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent ruling (see Commercial Case No. 1619/2016, ruling of the Dubai Court of First Instance of 15 February 2017), the Dubai Court of First Instance annulled the DIFC Courts’ rulings in the Banyan Tree line of cases (see Case No. ARB/003/2013, rulings of the DIFC Court of First Instance of 2nd April 2015…

DIFC

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

In a blog earlier this year, I reported in some detail on the Dubai-DIFC Judicial Committee’s first decision in Daman v. Oger (see Cassation No. 1/2016 (JT) – Daman Real Capital Partners Company LLC v. Oger Dubai LLC, hearing of 19 December 2016, published by the JT in both English and Arabic). By way of…