EGYPT Law and Practice Contributed by: Samer Badran, Abdelrahman Mahdy, Maya Khairy and Mazen Sayed, Badran Law Firm
13.5 Binding of Third Parties The EAL contains no express provision on the exten - sion of arbitration agreements to third parties. Nonetheless, extension to a non-signatory third party may be exceptionally permitted where express or implied consent by the third party can be demon - strated or where the circumstances of the case jus - tify it. Notably, the Egyptian Court of Cassation has confirmed that an arbitration clause may extend to non-signatories – for example, on the basis of the fol - lowing doctrines: group of companies, succession, assignment, or conduct evidencing a clear intention to be bound. As a general matter, the effect of an arbitral award is confined to the parties to the arbitration, consist - ent with the privity principle underlying Article 55’s res judicata effect. A party that was not bound by the arbitration agreement (unless by reason of the above- mentioned extension doctrines) cannot be bound by the resulting award, and this principle applies equally regardless of whether the non-signatory is domes - tic or foreign. Conversely, where a court or tribunal determines that one of the recognised extension doc - trines applies to a particular non-signatory, that entity is treated as a party to the arbitration agreement for jurisdictional purposes and can accordingly be bound by the resulting award.
Arbitrators Under the EAL, arbitrators are bound by the overriding duties of independence and impartiality enshrined in Article 16, the continuing duty of disclosure, and the duty to treat the parties with strict equality and afford each a full opportunity to present its case under Arti - cle 26. Soft Law Instruments Beyond the foregoing, both counsel and arbitrators are guided in practice by soft law instruments, most notably the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration and the IBA Guidelines on Party Representation in International Arbitration, which, while non-binding, are widely applied in pro - ceedings seated in Egypt. 13.3 Third-Party Funding The EAL contains no express provision governing third-party funding. Accordingly, third-party funding is not expressly prohibited under Egyptian law. Hence, unless the parties agree on a different rule, they can resort to it freely. 13.4 Consolidation The EAL contains no express provision governing the consolidation of separate arbitral proceedings. Nev - ertheless, consolidation is not prohibited, and may be achieved through party autonomy and, in institutional arbitration, through the applicable institutional rules. For instance, Article 50 of the CRCICA Arbitration Rules expressly grants CRCICA the power to con - solidate two or more arbitrations pending under the Rules into a single set of proceedings. Consolidation is permissible when all parties have agreed in writing to consolidation, where all claims in the arbitrations are made under the same arbitration agreement, or where the arbitration agreements are compatible and the claims arise out of the same transaction or series of transactions.
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