UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Antonios Dimitracopoulos and Martin Khoshdel, BSA Law
10.2 Types of Remedies Article 37 of the Federal Arbitration Law and Article 35 of the DIFC Arbitration Law specifically state that the subject matter of the dispute shall be determined by the substantive law as chosen by the parties. How - ever, the Federal Arbitration Law does not explicitly provide for the scenario where there is no agreement on the applicable law. It is to be inferred that, in the absence of agreement, the tribunal is to then apply the conflict of laws. Article 35 (2) of the DIFC Arbitration Law specifies that, where the parties have not agreed on the substantive law, the tribunal shall apply the law determined by the conflict of laws that it considers applicable ‒ giving the parties the right to agree in writing that the tribunal may apply the law or rules of law that it considers most appropriate. Section 51 of the ADGM Arbitration Regulations spe - cifically deals with remedies. It provides that: • the parties are free to agree on the powers of the tribunal with regard to remedies; • subject to any contrary agreement, the tribunal may grant any permissible remedy under the appli - cable substantive law; and • unless otherwise agreed and subject to the appli - cable substantive law, the tribunal may grant the following remedies: (a) declaratory relief; (b) payment of a sum of money in any currency; and (c) the same powers exercisable by the court such as a mandatory or prohibitory injunction, specific performance of a contract that is not related to land, and order rectification, setting aside or cancellation of a deed or other docu - ment. The powers cited here are not exhaustive. Therefore, the remedies available to the tribunal will depend on the substantive law that is applicable. 10.3 Recovering Interest and Legal Costs The Federal Arbitration Law and the DIFC Arbitration Law do not contain any specific provisions on interest. It will therefore be a matter for determination either
as agreed by the parties or on the application of the applicable substantive law. Section 52 of the ADGM Arbitration Regulations spe - cifically allows for interest to be awarded where the parties have agreed. Unless there is contrary agree - ment, interest may be granted in accordance with the applicable substantive law. Furthermore, the tribunal will have the power to award simple or compound interest on the whole or part of the awarded amount from such date deemed appropriate until the date of the award, and additionally award interest accrued on a simple or compound basis from the date of the award until satisfaction of the award. 11. Review of an Award 11.1 Grounds for Appeal There is no scope for appealing an arbitral award under any of the arbitration laws. Article 50 of the Federal Arbitration Law, Article 40 of the DIFC Arbitration Law, and Section 57 of the ADGM Arbitration Regulations provide that the parties may seek correction of errors in the award. The only other recourse parties have under the respec - tive laws is to seek to set the arbitral award aside. 11.2 Excluding/Expanding the Scope of Appeal Parties cannot agree to exclude or expand the scope of challenge under any of the arbitration laws in the UAE. 11.3 Standard of Judicial Review In accordance with the criteria for setting an award aside, the standard is one of review and not de novo. 12. Enforcement of an Award 12.1 New York Convention The UAE acceded to the New York Convention on 21 Aug 2006.
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