OMAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Sultan Al Ghafri, Nasser Al Riyami, Abdullah Al Aufi and Joud Lashko, Al Khalili, Al Ghailani & Co. LLP (K&Co.)
at improving procedural efficiency and aligning the Centre’s practice with international standards. This followed an earlier update of the Centre’s arbitration rules by Decision No. 8/2020 of its Board of Direc - tors. The rebranded Centre has also been expand - ing its roster of registered arbitrators, mediators and experts, and its network of co-operation agreements with regional and international bodies. Nevertheless, for the largest and most complex cross-border dis - putes, parties continue to favour the long-established international institutions, particularly where financing arrangements, multinational participants or enforce - ment considerations extend beyond Oman. No new arbitral institution has been established in Oman in the last 12 months. The Centre therefore remains the Sultanate’s only permanent arbitral insti - tution, the developments of the past year having con - sisted of its rebranding and the revision of its rules rather than the creation of a new body. 1.4 National Courts Oman has not adopted the model of establishing a dedicated arbitration court, or an international com - mercial court with exclusive jurisdiction over arbitral matters, comparable to those established in some neighbouring jurisdictions. The supervisory jurisdic - tion exercised by the national courts in support of arbitration is instead vested in a specialist commercial bench, with the result that arbitration-related matters are heard by a specialised court but are not deter - mined by a separate arbitration court as such. How - ever, a significant development took place in 2025 with the issuance of Royal Decree No. 35/2025, which established the Investment and Commerce Court. The Court has jurisdiction over a broad range of commer - cial and investment disputes, including matters relat - ing to arbitration. Judicial supervision of arbitration is not, however, a recent development in Oman. Even under the former court structure, and before the specialised commer - cial courts were absorbed into the unified judiciary in 2003, the Omani courts reviewed arbitral awards, supervised the arbitral process from the appointment of the arbitrators onwards, particularly in ad hoc arbitrations where the parties had made no institu - tional provision, and enforced the resulting awards.
What Royal Decree No. 35/2025 has altered is not the existence of that supervisory function but its allo - cation: the Investment and Commerce Court is now the court competent for arbitration and arbitral proce - dure, including the appointment of arbitrators and the supervision of the arbitral process. The Investment and Commerce Court is designated as the competent court for the purposes of the Arbi - tration Law. Its role is not to determine the substantive dispute between the parties, which remains the exclu - sive province of the arbitral tribunal, but to exercise the limited judicial functions reserved to the courts under the Arbitration Law. Those functions include appli - cations concerning the appointment or replacement of arbitrators where judicial intervention is required, together with other arbitration-related disputes and applications falling within the powers conferred by the Arbitration Law. The establishment of this specialised court reflects Oman’s continued efforts to strengthen its commercial dispute resolution framework through greater judicial specialisation. The Court also hears applications for interim meas - ures in support of arbitration, actions to set aside arbi - tral awards, and applications for the recognition and enforcement of domestic and foreign arbitral awards. These matters are determined in accordance with the Arbitration Law and, where the Arbitration Law is silent, the Law of Civil and Commercial Procedure (Royal Decree No. 29/2002). In recent years, Omani judges dealing with commer - cial and arbitration matters have developed increas - ing familiarity with international arbitration principles. This is reflected in a number of Supreme Court deci - sions concerning the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, demonstrating the judici - ary’s increasingly arbitration-friendly approach and its commitment to internationally recognised standards. Although the Sultanate has not created a standalone arbitration court, the concentration of arbitration-relat - ed applications before a specialist commercial forum promotes greater consistency in judicial oversight of arbitral proceedings and reinforces Oman’s broader policy of facilitating arbitration as an effective mecha - nism for the resolution of commercial disputes.
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