UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Mohammed Alsuwaidi, Ali Alraeesi, Rajiv Suri and Merline Dsouza, Alsuwaidi & Company
2.3 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Domestic Judgments Before Onshore Courts
being made to the DIFC Court with all relevant details of the debtor and a copy of the award to be enforced. The statutory provisions under which the application is made must be stated. The DIFC Court Registrar may deal with the application without the need for a hearing, although one may occasionally be required. Once the DIFC Court has decided that the onshore award can be enforced, the usual methods of enforce - ment (as noted previously in this section) can be used. Enforcement of onshore judgments before ADGM Courts On 11 February 2018, the ADGM Courts entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department on the mutual and reciprocal rec - ognition and enforcement of judgments, decisions, orders and ratified arbitral awards. The process is similar to the DIFC Courts, with the judgment having an executory formula attached and translated into Arabic. After the judgment creditor submits an application to the Abu Dhabi courts, a judgment will be enforced according to the relevant procedures but without re-examination of the merits of the judgment. Enforcement of DIFC and ADGM judgments before offshore courts The enforcement process in these financial free zones does not include an additional step in which the judg - ment must be the subject of an execution order. DIFC Judgments issued by the DIFC Courts are to be enforced pursuant to the Rules of the DIFC Courts (RDC), as stipulated in Article 42 thereof. Parts 36 and 45 of the RDC are the relevant rules governing such enforcement. ADGM Part 29 of the ADGM Court Procedure Rules sets out the rules to be complied with in filing an enforcement application. Apart from complying with the ADGM Court Procedure Rules, an applicant must also observe the rules together with any relevant practice direction to which a judgment pertains.
The timeframe for enforcing a domestic judgment var - ies widely, from two months to two years, depending on factors such as the availability, nature and valua - tion of the debtor’s assets, third-party involvement, and the auction process. For example, bank account attachments may be completed in a week, while asset-heavy enforcements like ship auctions may take several months. Costs typically include court filing fees, publication fees (if public notification is required), expert evalua - tions, translations and administrative charges. These can range from approximately AED1,000 to AED5,000, depending on the complexity of the enforcement, the asset class involved, and the number of steps required. Before Offshore Courts (DIFC and ADGM Courts) For enforcement, ADGM Courts charge up to USD3,000 for court matters and USD3,000 for the enforcement of arbitration awards. Both courts permit charging orders on property as a form of security for a judgment debt. In addition, an unpaid judgment debt represents a strong claim in insolvency proceedings. However, care must be taken here to avoid proceeding against a judgment debtor who may have other preferred creditors. The most efficient way to determine a defendant’s assets is to request the execution judge, against nominal court fees, to issue directives to any natu - ral or legal persons designated by the petitioner or creditor to disclose any such information pertaining to their assets. This may include public and regulatory authorities, such as: • the Real Estate Regulatory Agency; • the Land Department; • the Central Bank of UAE; 2.4 Post-Judgment Procedures for Determining Defendants’ Assets Onshore Courts
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