UAE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Amr Bajamal, NHB Legal
In the short term, if one is faced with this predica- ment, the quick solution would be one of the following measures: • apply to the DIFC or ADGM courts, as the case may be, within 30 days of receiving the decision of the Insurance Disputes Committee with an express relief-sought section seeking to overturn the com- mittee’s decision; • file a request for arbitration in accordance with the agreed institutional or ad hoc arbitration clause and seek an urgent preliminary award on jurisdiction; or • apply to the DIFC or ADGM courts to impose a stay on your first application until the arbitral tribunal issues its preliminary award on jurisdic- tion, together with applying the appropriate interim measures against the insured party to prevent the latter from enforcing the decision of the Insur- ance Disputes Committee until the DIFC or ADGM courts rule on the matter.
In the long run, perhaps judicial or legislative meas- ures would need to be introduced to confirm the inter- play between the courts of the financial freezones and the Insurance Law. Alternatively, since Article (2/2) of the Insurance Law expressly provides that it does not apply to insurance companies “operating” within the financial freezones, perhaps a wider interpretation of this provision could be adopted to conclude that, when the beneficiary of an insurance policy is an entity established within one of the financial freezones or when the arbitration is seated therein, the Insurance Law does not apply because the two scenarios con- stitute operating within the financial freezones. This would mean that in these scenarios the insured party would not be expected to first file its claim before the Insurance Disputes Committee.
288 I NSURANCE L I T IGATI O N 2026
CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook