Arbitration at the Dubai International Financial Centre: a Common Law Jurisdiction in the Middle East

Abstract

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is an autonomous jurisdiction based in the Emirate of Dubai where the civil and commercial laws of the UAE do not apply. The DIFC’s legal system is based instead on common law and is supervised by the judges of the DIFC’s own independent courts. The DIFC’s legal landscape now includes the recently enacted DIFC Arbitration Law 2008, based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, which opens up the DIFC as a possible seat of arbitration to all interested parties notwithstanding the absence of any links to the DIFC. Parties looking to seat their arbitrations in the Middle East now have the option of selecting the DIFC as a neutral, English-speaking, common law jurisdiction with a modern arbitration law, backed by an experienced judiciary, located in one of the leading commercial and financial centres in the Middle East. The aim of this article is threefold: (a) to present a short introduction to the DIFC’s unique legal system in order to establish the proper context for (b) a critical examination of the new Arbitration Law, and (c) to assess the likely impact of the new Law (and the recent establishment of the DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre) on arbitration in the Middle East and the wider region.