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…
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…
A 3-day International Conference on Construction Law & Arbitration was held in December 2019 in New Delhi, co-hosted by the Society of Construction Law-India and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators-India. During the course of their presentations, the panelists discussed various topics ranging from trends in construction law in the context of arbitration across global jurisdictions…
With 2019 concluded and a new decade on the horizon, it is worth reflecting on salient arbitration-related developments in the United Arab Emirates. As a jurisdiction, the UAE is not only a geographically-strategic venue for arbitration, but also a legally strategic one. As Dr. Gordon Blanke explained in his recent post, the UAE offers opportunities…
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…
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,…
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…
Introduction On 8 October 2018, the Ministry of Justice (the “MoJ”) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“Saudi Arabia”) announced that in the last 12 months its enforcement courts received a record-breaking 257 applications for enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards rendered outside Saudi Arabia, which were appraised at SAR 3.6 billion or “nearly one…
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…
On May 3rd, the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 (‘Law’) – the nation’s first federal arbitration legislation. According to the Federal National Council, this law has been formulated with the objective of maintaining and encouraging inflow of investments, and to comply with the UAE Vision 2021….
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…
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…
Arbitrators have an overarching duty to act fairly and impartially. This is a fundamental aspect of arbitration that arises out of one of the key advantages of the arbitration process, that is, the parties’ abilities to select the tribunal or arbitrator. This duty is commonly enshrined in arbitration laws and institution rules. For example, Article…
When implemented and understood properly by all players involved, international commercial arbitration should run like a well-oiled machine. Jurisdictions such as France, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland understand this – from the legislature, to the courts, to the practitioners and parties involved. Many other jurisdictions, such as the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong…
In a sequence of recent rulings starting in 2015, the Dubai Courts have confirmed that the doctrine of apparent authority does, after all, find application to the formation of arbitration agreements. The former prevailing position was that apparent authority did not have a place in arbitration, which requires a special – rather than just a…
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…
Two years ago, in the case of Banyan Tree v Meydan Group, an arbitral award rendered outside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) was enforced by the DIFC courts in circumstances where neither party was based nor had assets in the DIFC. The case demonstrated the willingness of the DIFC’s courts to enforce awards rendered…
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,…
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…
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…
