OMAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Mohammed Al Khalili, Jenna Al Bakry, Joud Lashko and Abdullah Al Raiisi, Al Khalili, Al Ghailani & Co LLP
3.3 Standing As discussed in 3.1 Mechanisms for Bringing Col- lective Redress/Class Actions , under the current legislative system, the mechanisms for bringing col- lective redress and class actions are the same as the mechanisms for individual cases. As such, the right of standing to bring a collective redress/class action is the same as in an individual case. The CCPL details who has the right of standing to file a claim with regard to the civil and commercial matters it governs. In general, to have standing to file a claim, parties must be either: • natural persons who have legal capacity; or • legal entities with a recognized legal personality. In all cases, the party must establish its relation to the case and the defendant, only those directly affected or having a legal interest in the dispute can submit claims. As regards arbitration cases, the right of standing to initiate arbitration lies with the parties who are either directly bound by the arbitration agreement or the authorised signatories to the arbitration agreement. Advocate Assignment Considerations Natural persons and legal entities retain the right to represent themselves or to assign a legal advocate to represent them. The legal advocate shall ensure they have a valid power of attorney from the natural person or from the authorised individual of the legal entity. However, the law has stipulated certain cases in which a legal advocate must be assigned. As per Article 18 of the Advocacy and Legal Consultancy Law promulgated by Royal Decree 41/2024: “Private legal persons shall not file a lawsuit worth more than OMR10,000 except through an advocate. Individuals shall also not file a civil, commercial or tax lawsuit, the value of which exceeds OMR30,000, except through an advocate.” As such, collective redress claims/class actions raised by legal entities claiming an amount exceed- ing OMR10,000 must be made through a legal advo- cate. As for individuals raising a claim of collective redress/class action, the benchmark is raised to cases
• Article 125 states that the Collective Arbitration Committee shall notify the parties to the dispute with a copy of its award within three days following the date on which the award was issued. It is also important to note that the Labour Law also provides notice that the CCPL and the Law of Arbitra- tion in Civil and Commercial Disputes promulgated by Royal Decree 47/1997 will only apply to matters that are not governed by a special arbitration clause regarding collective redress and class action claims. Article 126 of the Labour Law states: “The provisions of the Law of Arbitration in Civil and Commercial Dis- putes and the provisions of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law shall apply [with] regard to matters not governed by a special text regarding arbitration in collective labour disputes.” As such, the above-mentioned process must be fol- lowed for all collective redress and class action cases under the jurisdiction of labour law. CCPL Procedures Although there are no specific regulations regard- ing collective redress claims/class action claims, the CCPL has specific measures and procedures in place for multiparty claims. Multiparty claims include any claim in which more than one party is involved on either the defendant side or the claimant side. In multiparty claims, the domicile of the defendants maybe consoli- dated into one domicile based on the court’s discre- tion, as per article 44 of the CCPL: “The competence lies with the court in whose jurisdiction the domicile of the defendant is located, unless the law provides otherwise. If the defendant does not have a domicile in the Sultanate [of Oman], the competence lies with the court in whose jurisdiction [the defendant’s] place of residence is located. If there are multiple defendants, the competence lies with the court in whose jurisdic- tion the domicile of one of them is located.” Practi- cal considerations that must be observed during the procedure include ensuring all relevant documentation is submitted at the same time as the submission of the claim, as well as ensuring their attendance aligns with scheduled proceedings (taking into account the consequences of non-attendance).
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