Dubai reforms arbitration landscape – MEED

Dubai reforms arbitration landscape – MEED

Commercial parties should examine existing arbitration agreements to ensure they remain fit for purpose and reflect their intentions

Resolving commercial disputes by arbitration remains a popular choice in the Middle East. Parties continue to routinely include arbitration clauses in their contracts, attracted by the confidentiality of arbitral proceedings, industry expert adjudicators and the possibility of disputes being heard in any language. 

Recent legal reforms to Dubai's arbitration landscape have consolidated arbitration centres and promulgated new state-of-the-art arbitration rules. Accordingly, boilerplate arbitration agreements from historic standard form precedents may no longer be fit for purpose in the post-reform environment and should be revisited.