UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Mohammed Alsuwaidi, Ali Alraeesi, Rajiv Suri and Merline Dsouza, Alsuwaidi & Company
Offshore Courts Route Under the DIFC Courts system, foreign judgments must be final, enforceable and accompanied by an Arabic translation, in accordance with Article 24.2 of the Court Law read together with Article 7.2 of the Judicial Authority Law. For execution within the DIFC of judgments rendered outside the DIFC, the procedures set out in the RDC must be followed. An enforcement application (the type of which depends on the type of assets to be enforced) is made to the DIFC Courts Enforcement Division. Foreign judgment creditors have been known to uti - lise the Judicial Authority Law to seek an order of the DIFC Courts to ratify their foreign judgments and then enforce said judgments before the Dubai Courts, and in some circumstances even when the matter and assets had no nexus with the DIFC Courts. It is noteworthy that the Joint Judicial Committee for the Dubai Courts and DIFC Courts – established under repealed Decree No 19 of 2016, and now known as “the Judicial Committee for Resolving Jurisdictional Disputes between the DIFC Courts and the Judicial Bodies of the Emirate of Dubai” (under new Dubai Decree No 29 of 2024) – has served to curtail the use of the DIFC Courts as a conduit jurisdiction to enforce foreign judgments. For ADGM Courts, the process of enforcement of for - eign judgments is largely the same as the process in the DIFC Courts. 3.5 Costs and Time Taken to Enforce Foreign Judgments Before Onshore Courts Since the enforcement process of foreign judgments and any foreign writ of execution follows a two-tier procedure (see 3.4 Process of Enforcing Foreign Judgments ), the timeframe and the costs are split between the two tiers. Tier 1 The court will issue its decision on the execution order application within three days from the date of its sub - mission. The estimated court fees are AED320.
Chapter 10 of the ADGM Regulations 2015, aligns with the federal courts in requiring reciprocity for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Onshore Courts Route The process entails a two-tiered procedure, as described below. Tier 1 A party seeking the enforcement of a foreign writ of execution before an onshore court must obtain an execution order from the execution judge by filing an “exequatur petition” as per the conditions and proce - dures for the initiation of a lawsuit set forth in Articles 44 and 222 of the CPL. The court will issue its decision within five working days from the date of the submis - sion of the petition. The execution order may only be issued if the condi - tions required for the enforceability of the foreign writ of execution stated above are fulfilled. For the Tier 1 procedure, the execution judge’s order of execution remains subject to the usual channels of appeal – ie, before the Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation, and in accordance with the rules and procedures prescribed for filing an appeal. Tier 2 After obtaining the exequatur, the creditor shall rely on the provisions stipulated in the CPL concerning the enforcement procedures, in addition to other arti - cles, by applying for the enforcement of the exequatur from the execution judge, following which the execu - tion court will open a new lawsuit (called an execu - tion case) and serve a summons notice on the debtor requesting payment of the debt with seven days from the date of the notification. For a detailed explanation of execution mechanics (including precautionary attachment, insolvency peti - tions, detainment and travel bans), please refer to 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments . These pro - cedures apply mutatis mutandis to foreign judgment enforcement once the exequatur is granted.
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