Qatar

2021 in Review, Abu Dhabi, DIAC, DIFC, Dubai, KSA, Middle East, Qatar, UAE, UAE Federal Arbitration Law

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Amidst reeling from the pandemic of 2020, 2021 witnessed a number of arbitration-related transformations, developments and notable decisions issued by the national courts in the Middle East. In this post, we focus in on the Middle East region to reflect on the significant developments that took place in arbitral centres, summarize key judgments issued by…

Enforceability, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, Qatar

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Over the last few years, the courts in Qatar have been criticized from the arbitration community for having issued several rulings setting aside both domestic and foreign arbitral awards on public policy grounds. In particular, these rulings held that like court issued judgments, domestic and even foreign arbitral awards were required to be rendered in…

DIAC, DIFC, DIFC conduit jurisdiction, Dubai, MENA, Qatar, Qatar Financial Centre

(Armstrong Teasdale)/ /Leave a comment

On 14 September 2021, a Decree (no. 34) by the government of Dubai (currently only available in Arabic)  (the Decree) abolished two of Dubai’s most successful arbitration institutions: the Dubai Maritime Arbitration Centre (EMAC) and the DIFC-LCIA Centre.1)The DIFC-LCIA was established as a joint venture between Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Dubai Arbitration Institute (DAI),…

Arbitration, In Memoriam, Qatar

(Qatar International Centre for Conciliation and Arbitration)/ /6 Comments

Dr Minas Khatchadourian left this world for the heavenly abode in July 2021. This news was a great shock to the Middle Eastern legal community. In particular, his loss will be significantly felt in Egypt – his home country – and Qatar – where Dr Khatchadourian spent the last ten years as the General Legal…

Jurisdiction, Qatar, Qatar Financial Centre

(Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration) and (Al Tamimi & Company)/ /Leave a comment

Similar to other countries in the region, Qatar’s primary legal system is civil law based. In 2005, the Qatar Financial Centre (“QFC”), an offshore jurisdiction, was established in Qatar by virtue of Law No. 7 of 2005 as amended by Law No. 2 of 2009 (“QFC Law”). This post sheds light on the jurisdiction of…

Investment, Investment Arbitration, MENA, Middle East, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Qatar

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Young ITA

Young ITA has organised over fifteen successful events this year all over the world including in Sao Paolo, Buenos Aires, Guatemala City, Miami, Washington DC, New York City, London, and India. The first Dubai Young ITA talk took place on Wednesday 5 December 2018. The event hosted by Vinson & Elkins featured two panel discussions…

Qatar

, , (Al Tamimi & Company)/ /2 Comments

In a recent judgment, the Qatari Court of Cassation ruled that an arbitral tribunal may only hear a dispute arising from a contract that is valid and that the validity of a contract is to be determined solely and exclusively by the courts (Civil Appeal No. 65-2017). Notably, the judgment was issued on 18 April…

Argentina, Fair and Equitable Treatment, Qatar

(Allende & Brea)/ /2 Comments

Argentina recently entered into a new Bilateral Investment Treaty with Qatar. After 15 years of absence in this type of negotiations and several claims the country faced since the economic and financial crisis of 2001, Argentina sat again in the BIT negotiation table. This was a unique opportunity for Argentina to start from scratch, and…

Enforcement, New York Convention, Qatar, Set aside an international arbitral award

(Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

Few days ago, the Qatari Supreme Court decided to overturn an earlier judgment of the Doha court of appeal which upheld a decision of the court of first instance to set aside an ICC arbitral award as being in violation of the Qatari public policy. The new ruling comes in rescue of the Qatari courts’…

New York Convention, Qatar, Set aside an international arbitral award

(Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

In an earlier post, it was reported that several domestic arbitral awards rendered in Qatar have been set aside by the national judges based on the necessity to be rendered in the name of His Highness The Emir of Qatar, otherwise these awards were considered in violation of public policy. Few weeks ago, a new…

Applicable Law, Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration Awards, Enforcement, Qatar, Set aside an arbitral award

(Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

A controversial decision by Qatar’s Court of Cassation has ruled on the necessity for arbitral awards to be rendered in the name of His Highness The Emir of Qatar. The said ruling issued on 12 June 2012 (Petition No. 64/2012) set aside an arbitral award rendered under the auspices of the Qatar International Center for…

Appeal, Arbitration, Due process, Efficiency, Qatar, Sport arbitration, Switzerland

(Perréard de Boccard)/ /Leave a comment

In a post dated March 2, 2011, I reported about a Swiss Supreme Court decision of February 20, 2009 where the Supreme Court had confirmed a CAS award which deemed an appeal withdrawn after the appellant had failed to pay the advance on costs. I indicated that I did not know what had happened to…

Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Proceedings, Middle East, Qatar

(The Center for American and International Law)/ /Leave a comment

There are two legal jurisdictions in Qatar with laws containing specific provisions related to arbitration: the State of Qatar and the Qatar Financial Center (the “QFC”). The latter is a separate jurisdiction with its own laws within the state. The QFC Law provides for the arbitration of commercial disputes in relation to contracts that have…