UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Antonios Dimitracopoulos and Martin Khoshdel, BSA Law
measures, orders in support of arbitration, through to recognition and enforcement. The DIFC courts and the ADGM courts specifically have arbitration divisions that will anonymise the par - ties’ identities when publishing case decisions. There are dedicated judges who will hear all related claims, meaning that the parties will benefit from having their cases determined by experienced judges who were former arbitration practitioners. The Federal Arbitration Law governs all onshore-seat - ed arbitrations. Arbitrations seated in the DIFC are governed by the DIFC Arbitration Law and arbitrations seated in the ADGM are governed by the ADGM Arbi - tration Regulations. All above-mentioned cited laws are based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration of 1985, as amended in 2006 (the “UNCI - TRAL Model Law”). 2. Governing Legislation 2.1 Governing Law The key articles of the Federal Arbitration Law that differ from the UNCITRAL Model Law are as follows: • the signatory of the arbitration agreement must have specific authority to enter into an arbitration agreement ‒ for example, the power of attorney specifically confers on the named individual the power enter into arbitration agreements (Article 4); • arbitrations are confidential (Article 33 (1)); • arbitration awards are to be challenged within 30 days (Article 54 (2)), whereas the UNCITRAL Model Law sets a three-month time limit within which to challenge an award (Article 34 (3) of the UNCITRAL Model Law); • the grounds for refusing to recognise or enforce arbitral awards are greater in the Federal Arbitra - tion Law (Article 53 of the Federal Arbitration Law) when compared to Article 34 of the UNCITRAL Model Law; and • the provisions for interim measures are greatly expanded within the Federal Arbitration Law com - pared to the UNCITRAL Model Law.
The DIFC Arbitration Law is heavily influenced by the Model Law. However, some provisions within the DIFC Arbitration Law are not found within the UNCITRAL Model Law ‒ for example, confidentiality provisions and expanded provisions regarding interim measures and clarifying which provisions of the DIFC Arbitration Law are applicable depending on the seat of arbitra - tion. The ADGM Arbitration Regulations is also heavily influenced by the UNCITRAL Model Law. The key dif - ferences/enhancements are that the ADGM Arbitra - tion Regulations contains provisions as to confiden - tiality and the joinder of additional parties, as well as expanded provisions regarding interim measures. 2.2 Changes to National Law There have not been any significant changes to UAE arbitration laws in the past year nor are there any pending. Generally, the arbitration agreement needs to be in writing. The reference in a contract to any document containing an arbitration clause meets the require - ment that the arbitration agreement must be in writing, as long as the reference is such to make the clause part of the contract. As mentioned in 2.1 Governing Law , the Federal Arbitration Law contains a specific requirement that the arbitration agreement is entered into with specific authority (eg, through a power of attorney or special power to enter into arbitration agreements recorded on the company’s trade licence). 3. The Arbitration Agreement 3.1 Enforceability The DIFC Arbitration Law contains specific require - ments where the dispute has arisen out of an employ - ment contract or a contract for the supply of goods or services in a consumer setting, whereby an arbitration agreement cannot be enforced against the employee or consumer without their written consent or if they have already submitted to arbitration or unless the DIFC court has disapplied this specific provision.
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