The Dubai International Financial Center (best known as DIFC), in association with the London Court of International Arbitration. Launched again its center for arbitration. The difference with the prior one is the positive improvement of its facilities and the new crew of professionals and experts. Administered by the Dubai International Financial Center courts, it has an own legal system which applies common law. The wide experience of the LCIA, one of the most notorious courts in the international private law scenario, is the perfect guide for the arbitration services provided in the new center.
It has been relocated in an area of 110 acres. This relocation represents the accomplishment of the Center restructuring process. The support of the DIFC Dispute Resolution Authority and the DIFC Arbitration Institute have been essential. The most important aspect to notice is that the offered portfolio covers any international dispute, not just local, as it was before and that’s definitely an improvement. The ruling law on this matter, the DIFC number 1 of 2008, applies to all kind of arbitration agreements, nevertheless the matter or the location it was made. However, all agreements that users submit to the arbitration center must be in writing. In addition, it is important to consider that there is actually a limited rejection of employment and consumer agreements in the article 12,2.
The aim of the Arbitration center is to drag more attention to Dubai about arbitration matters; a point of reference not only in the region but abroad. Dubai’s location is not only luxurious and classy for the elite companies all over the world: it is strategically located between three continents. It makes it easier to start an arbitration process there, instead of traveling to remote places for the center main clients, like New York, Australia or England.
Dubai’s legal system operates under two parallel lines. The first one is Onshore Dubai: it is ruled by a civil law system, which has been structured over a Civil Code of Napoleonic basis, influenced by the Egyptian Civil Code. The second one is Offshore Dubai: a financial free zone within the Dubai International Financial Center. It operates, as it was mentioned above, under an own legal system, where English is the main language and the courts follow the model of the British Common Law. The arbitration law is based on the International Trade Law of the UN commission model.
The relaunch process of the arbitration center started from a Dubai Law (7, 2014), thanks to the adjustment of some provisions of another law (9, 2004), which officially created the DIFC arbitration institute and the DIFC dispute resolution authority. From now on, all organizations will work as independent organisms.
The relaunching has brought some important changes in the arbitration center. On one hand, there are a new statutory basis (mentioned above) and new rules that reflect the amendments of the 2014 LCIA rubrics. On the other hand, there is a new registrar to be managed locally: El Ghatit. From the 300 open cases in the LCIA, 30 of them have migrated to Dubai. This number is estimated to increase, because professionals and users have more possibilities for submitting an arbitration proceeding in the DIFC under the new rules.
Time will tell if it grows high enough as a Burj Khalifa of the international law world.