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Looking back at 2025, here are ten notable developments in
international arbitration in the Gulf region setting the stage for
2026:
1. Active UAE arbitration users: UAE users were
among the top users of arbitration at the ICC (ranking fifth
overall), LCIA (ranked fourth overall), and the SIAC (ranking fifth
overall) (based on 2024 caseload statistics announced in
2025).
2. Saudi Arbitration Law: Saudi Arabia published a
new draft arbitration law for public consultation, aiming to align
even more with the UNCITRAL Model Law and international best
practices.
3. QICCA Rules: The Qatar International Center for
Conciliation and Arbitration (QICCA) updated its arbitration rules
to provide for expedited procedures, electronic submissions and
digital signatures, and consolidation and joinder.
4. Bahrain International Commercial Court: The
Bahrain International Commercial Court (BICC) was established, with
the possibility of appeals being made to the Singapore
International Commercial Court (SICC). The BICC is expected to
serve, among other roles, as a specialist forum for
arbitration-related litigation.
5. Signing of awards: The UAE Federal and Local
Judicial Principles Unification Authority held that arbitral awards
need only be signed on the last page, addressing long-running
uncertainty on signature formalities in the UAE.
6. Anti-suit injunctions issued by tribunals: The
Dubai Court of Cassation confirmed that arbitral tribunals can
issue binding anti-suit injunctions, overturning an earlier
decision by the Dubai Court of Appeal finding that they could
not.
7. Delineating jurisdiction in Qatar: The Qatar
Financial Centre (QFC) Court ruled that non-QFC parties can
designate the QFC as the seat of the arbitration and the QFC Court
as the supervisory court in their arbitration agreement, provided
that the agreement is clear and precise.
8. Delineating jurisdiction in the UAE:
Dubai's Conflicts of Jurisdiction Tribunal ruled that the DIFC
Courts lacked jurisdiction to hear an enforcement application
concerning an award from an onshore Dubai-seated arbitration where
an annulment application was filed in the onshore courts.
9. DIFC-LCIA clauses: The enforceability of
DIFC-LCIA arbitration clauses continued to percolate through
national court systems with the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Fifth
Circuit in the United States and the Ontario Superior Court of
Justice in Canada confirming that such clauses remain valid
(following similar outcomes in Abu Dhabi and Singapore in
2024).
10. Permanent Court of Arbitration: The Permanent
Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague signed a host-country
agreement with Bahrain – its first with a Middle Eastern
state.
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