With the beginning of a new year, it is time for a look at arbitration developments in the UAE that have gone unnoticed (or at least unreported) over the course of 2016. As the readership of this Blog will be aware, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have developed into one of the most fecund arbitration…
To the great excitement (some may say consternation) of the local legal profession, by adoption of a decree earlier this year (see Decree No. (19) of 2016 forming the Judicial Committee of the Dubai Court and the DIFC Courts, dated 9 June 2016), which entered into immediate effect (see Art. 8, Decree No. (19) of…
On 20 September 2016, in a somewhat unanticipated move, the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Dispute Resolution Authority (DRA) – which comprises both the DIFC Academy of Law and the DIFC Courts, the autonomous common law judiciary based in the DIFC – signed a Memorandum of Understanding to…
On 28 July 2016, in a judgment of Justice Sir Jeremy Cooke (see CFI 020/2016 – Brookfield Multiplex Constructions LLC v. (1) DIFC Investments LLC (2) Dubai International Financial Centre Authority, ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance of 28 July 2016), the DIFC Court of First Instance ruled, in principle, in favour of…
To investors’ relief, in a recent ruling (see Case No. 384/2016, ruling of the Dubai Court of Cassation of 19 June 2016), the Dubai Court of Cassation reversed the lower court’s refusal to enforce an award rendered under the Rules of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in London, England, on the basis…
In a somewhat surprising move, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, the government authority responsible for judicial matters in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Courts entered into a Memorandum of Understanding concerning cooperation in legal and judicial matters dated 19 April 2016 . This, at least, is the position,…
On 15 May 2016, the UAE Ministry of Justice and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Courts, the courts of the newly established common law free zone carved out of the heart of Abu Dhabi (see my previous reporting here), entered into a Memorandum of Understanding concerning cooperation in legal and judicial matters with immediate…
According to a recent announcement (see the official DIAC website at https://www.dubaichamber.com/en/news/dubai-international-arbitration-centre-opens-an-office-in-difc), the Dubai International Arbitration Centre, widely known by its acronym as the “DIAC”, is set to open a branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre, in shorthand the “DIFC”. This anticipated move is no doubt a promotional exercise to address concerns that the…
On 18 April 2016, following earlier anticipation (see my blog here), the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre, in shorthand “EMAC”, was finally established by virtue of a decree issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai (see Decree No. 14 of 2016 establishing the Emirates Centre…
In a recent enforcement action of a foreign arbitral award rendered under the ICC Rules in London, England, the Dubai Court of Appeal questioned the United Kingdom’s proper membership of the 1958 New York Convention (on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards) (the “NYC” or simply the “Convention”). The action was brought by…
In a ruling of earlier this month (see CFI 017/2015 – Emirates NBD Bank PJSC v. Infospan Gulf Inc., ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance of 3rd April 2016) H.E. Justice Ali Al Madhani, one of the UAE-national resident judges of the DIFC Courts, sitting in the DIFC Court of First Instance, found…
Two recent Dubai Court of Cassation cases shed light on the question of the liability of arbitrators in the UAE (see Case No. 212/2014 – Meydan Group LLC v. Alexis Mourre, ruling of the Dubai Court of Cassation of 8 October 2015; and Case No. 284/2015 – Meydan Group LLC v. Doug Jones, Humphrey Lloyd…
The Government of the Republic of India has adopted a revised text of the former 2003 version of its Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Having entered into effect in December 2015, this text is intended to serve as a template for negotiations of India’s existing and future investment relations with countries around the world, including…
In a blog earlier this year (see here), I reported on the emergence of the Abu Dhabi Global Market, in shorthand ADGM, as a free zone seat of arbitration in its own right, offering a viable alternative to seating an arbitration in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). To recap, choice of the ADGM as…
In a recent ruling of the DIFC Court of Appeal (CA 007/2015 – DNB Bank ASA v. (1) Gulf Eyadah Corporation (2) Gulf Navigation Holdings PJSC, ruling of the DIFC Court of Appeal of 25 February 2016), Chief Justice Michael Hwang, Justice Sir David Steel and H.E. Justice Omar Al Muhairi took the opportunity to…
In a recent long-anticipated move, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi has finally expanded its own arbitration offering by adding a further arbitration facility in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). More specifically, on 17 December 2015, the Board of Directors of the ADGM enacted the so-called ADGM Arbitration Regulations 2015, following an initial consultation process,…
This is Part II of a previous blog, discussing a recent Award dated 27 October 2015 rendered in ICSID Case No. ARB/11/33 – Adel A Hamadi Al Tamimi v. Sultanate of Oman and dismissing all claims against Oman (see Part I of the blog). By way of reminder, the claims brought in these ICSID proceedings…
By a Final Award dated 27 October 2015 (see ICSID Case No. ARB/11/33 – Adel A Hamadi Al Tamimi v. Sultanate of Oman), an international tribunal constituted under the International Convention for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), also commonly referred to as the Washington Convention, dismissed all claims brought by a US national against the…
Following a recent announcement of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) (see https://www.lcia.org//News/difc-lcia-arbitration-centre-relaunched-today.aspx), its Dubai-based sister organisation, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)-LCIA Arbitration Centre, re-launched its operations from a new location in the DIFC with effect from 18 November 2015. The move to the DIFC Gate Building, which has become an iconic landmark…
A ruling of the Austrian Supreme Court, the Oberste Gerichtshof in Vienna, Austria, of earlier this year (see ruling of 18 February 2015, 2 Ob 22/14w) raises anew the much debated question of the type and intensity of supervisory court review of European Union (EU) competition law awards. Readers may recall that EU competition law…
A recent ruling of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court of First Instance (see Case No. XX – (1) X1 (2) X2 v. (1) Y1 (2) Y2, ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance of 29 July 2015) brings into relief the question as to whether the role of the DIFC Courts as…
By Order of 11 May 2015 (unpublished) in Case No. ARB 005/2014 – A v. B, Justice Sir David Steel of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court of First Instance dismissed an application made by an award debtor to set aside an order granted by the DIFC Court on 8 January 2015 (unpublished) for…
In a recent ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance (CFI 043/2014 – DNB Bank ASA v. (1) Gulf Eyadah Corporation (2) Gulf Navigation Holding PJSC, ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance of 2nd July 2015), H.E. Justice Ali Al Madhani, one of the UAE-national resident judges of the DIFC Courts, drew…
By Order of 5 January 2014 (see Case ARB 001/2014 – (1) X1 (2) X2 v. (1) Y, Order of the Dubai Court of First Instance), H.E. Justice Ali Al Madhani, one of the UAE-national resident judges of the DIFC Courts, dismissed an application by an award debtor for an order referring a purported conflict…
