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.)
sensual nature of arbitration and the broader inter- national character of the arbitration agreements typi - cally seen in Oman. This flexibility applies equally to domestic and international arbitrations, in contrast to the position before the ordinary Omani courts. That said, where enforcement or annulment proceedings subsequently move to the Omani courts, represen - tation before those courts will generally need to be undertaken, or at least formally lodged, by counsel admitted to practice in Oman. 8. Evidence 8.1 Collection and Submission of Evidence Arbitral proceedings in Oman do not generally follow the broad, US-style discovery model; instead, the collection and submission of evidence tends to be more closely aligned with the civil law tradition, rely - ing principally on documentary evidence submitted by the parties in support of their pleadings, together with witness statements and expert reports where relevant. The Arbitration Law affords the tribunal considerable discretion to determine the manner in which evi - dence is presented and assessed, including whether to permit cross-examination of witnesses at a hear - ing, which is common in practice, particularly in more internationalised arbitrations. There is no comprehen - sive statutory privilege regime specific to arbitration comparable to those found in some common-law systems, and issues of privilege and confidentiality of documents are generally addressed by reference to the law applicable to the underlying relationship, the tribunal’s own procedural directions or, increas - ingly, international soft-law instruments such as the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence, where the parties or tribunal choose to apply them. 8.2 Rules of Evidence The Arbitration Law does not import the formal, tech - nical rules of evidence that apply in ordinary Omani civil and commercial litigation; rather, it grants the arbitral tribunal broad discretion to determine the rules of evidence applicable to the proceedings, subject to the fundamental requirement that each party be given a full and equal opportunity to present its case. In practice, this means that tribunals seated in Oman fre - quently adopt more flexible, internationally recognised
approaches to evidence, including reliance on writ - ten witness statements, party-appointed and tribunal- appointed experts, and document production, rather than being bound by the more prescriptive evidentiary rules that apply before the domestic courts. This flex - ibility is one of the practical advantages of arbitration over litigation for parties involved in complex, techni - cal or cross-border disputes, since it allows the tribu - nal to tailor the evidentiary process to the nature and value of the dispute rather than applying a uniform procedural code. 8.3 Powers of Compulsion Arbitral tribunals do not themselves possess coercive powers of compulsion over parties or, especially, non- parties; such powers rest with the competent Omani courts, which can assist an arbitration by compelling the production of documents or the attendance of wit - nesses upon application by a party or the tribunal, in a manner analogous to the court’s role in ordinary litigation. This distinction is significant in the case of non-parties, who cannot generally be compelled to produce documents or give evidence directly by the tribunal, since the tribunal’s authority derives from the parties’ consent to arbitrate and does not extend to third parties; recourse to the court is therefore neces - sary where evidence held by a non-party is required. As between the parties themselves, a party’s failure to comply with a tribunal’s order for production of docu - ments may instead be addressed through the tribu - nal’s power to draw adverse inferences, or through its ultimate assessment of the evidence and the merits of the dispute. The Arbitration Law does not contain an express, comprehensive statutory confidentiality regime cover - ing all aspects of an arbitration; however, arbitral pro - ceedings in Oman are, in practice and by broad legal and institutional convention, treated as confidential, including the pleadings, the evidence submitted and the award itself, particularly where the parties have adopted institutional rules, such as those of the Oman Commercial Arbitration Centre, that expressly impose confidentiality obligations on the parties, the tribunal 9. Confidentiality 9.1 Extent of Confidentiality
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