Judicial Attitude Towards Foreign Arbitral Awards in the United Arab Emirates
Hassan Mohammed Arab
ABSTRACT
This article presents a comparison of the UAE courts’ approach towards the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards before and after the UAE’s accession to the New York Convention. Before the State’s accession to the New York Convention, the UAE courts had a restrictive approach towards enforcement of foreign awards as they applied the same conditions required by Article 235 of the Civil Procedures Code for the enforcement of foreign judgments. However, this historical approach changed markedly after the UAE’s accession to the New York Convention on 19 February 2006 by virtue of Decree No. 43 of 2006. To this effect, the present article examines several recent rulings issued by the UAE courts which evidence a strong support for international arbitration and confirm the UAE’s adherence to the New York Convention. Furthermore, the courts’ current positive approach towards enforcement of foreign arbitration awards does not appear to be threatened by one recent court ruling contravening the progressive developments.