EGYPT Law and Practice Contributed by: Ahmed Kotb, Mohamed Ehab, Mohamed Sameh and Yasmine ElSakka, Khodeir & Partners
ing the public policy ground for refusal of enforcement narrowly. This approach was confirmed by the Court of Cassation fostering respect for arbitration (Court of Cassation, Commercial and Economic Circuit, Chal - lenge No. 8199 of JY 80, dated 22 March 2022). The Court of Cassation has elaborated that it encom - passes the protection of Egypt’s higher social, politi - cal, economic and ethical values. Importantly, this is understood as an objective notion, requiring judges to evaluate public policy based on prevailing societal trends and norms at the time of the judgment. The court distinguished between procedural and sub - stantive public policy: the first concerns breaches of the legal provisions governing the arbitration process itself, while the second relates to violations that arise from the content or merits of the award. This distinc - tion helps ensure that awards are not lightly set aside for mere procedural irregularities unless they affect the fundamental fairness of the arbitration. Finally, the Court of Cassation clarified that a breach of a mandatory rule does not automatically amount to a public policy violation sufficient to annul an arbitral award. Such breaches must be considered in context, preventing an overly broad application of public policy that could undermine the finality and enforceability of arbitration awards (Cairo Court of Cassation, Chal- lenge No. 12790 of JY 75, dated 22 March 2011). 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration Class or group arbitration is not regulated under the EAL and is not a recognised procedural mechanism in Egyptian arbitration practice. 13.2 Ethical Codes There are no specific ethical codes under the EAL governing the conduct of arbitrators or counsel. How - ever, Egyptian-qualified lawyers acting as counsel are bound by the professional obligations and ethical rules established under the Egyptian Advocacy Law (No. 17 of 1983), including duties of integrity, confidentiality, and loyalty to the client.
Arbitrators are subject to the general standards of independence, impartiality and disclosure under the EAL, particularly Articles 18-20. These provisions require arbitrators to disclose any circumstances likely to give rise to justifiable doubts as to their impartiality or independence. In practice, many arbitrators and counsel seated in Egypt adhere to international soft law instruments such as the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration and the IBA Guidelines on Party Representation. In addition, serious misconduct could give rise to removal of the arbitrator or to a chal - lenge to the award under Article 53 of the EAL. 13.3 Third-Party Funding Third-party funding (TPF) is not expressly regulated under the EAL or the wider Egyptian legal framework. However, the absence of regulation does not neces - sarily render TPF invalid or unenforceable. There are recent indications of increasing acceptance of TPF in the Egyptian arbitration landscape. For exam - ple, Article 28 of the 2024 Egypt–Saudi Arabia BIT expressly recognises and regulates TPF. Similarly, the 2024 CRCICA Arbitration Rules introduced Article 53, which governs TPF arrangements and disclosure obli - gations. That said, the enforceability of TPF under Egyptian law may still raise interpretative challenges, particu - larly in light of Article 739 of the Egyptian Civil Code, which prohibits agreements deemed to relate to gam - bling or betting. However, the travaux préparatoires to this provision indicate that “gambling” is confined to activities involving pure chance or luck, as opposed to contracts with a commercial or financial rationale. Since TPF is typically structured as a risk allocation mechanism based on legal assessment rather than chance, it is unlikely to fall within the scope of Article 739. Nevertheless, the introduction of TPF into the Egyptian legal framework should be approached with a degree of caution to ensure alignment with Sharia principles and Egyptian public order considerations. This may explain why contractual clarity and full disclosure of the funding arrangement remain critical.
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