Arbitration Developments in the UAE in The First Half of 2016

Alec Emmerson, Consultant at Clyde & Co in Dubai, has a look at the arbitration developments in the UAE so far in 2016.

What has been the most significant arbitration case law development in the UAE the first half of 2016?

The most significant story in arbitration related case law in the UAE remains the development of the DIFC Courts' ("DIFCC") "conduit" jurisdiction. As previously reported several judgments of the DIFCC over the last two years led the way in the development of those courts as a conduit both for the enforcement of foreign awards where the award debtor had no connection with DIFC and also for the enforcement of domestic awards.

DIFCC held that there was no basis for asserted constitutional conflict of legislation which would prevent recognition and enforcement of awards in the DIFC where the Defendant is domiciled in Dubai. In December 2015 in an as yet unreported judgment of the Union Supreme Court (to which one of the parties in an earlier