Judgments made by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts will face no challenges in enforcement in neighbouring emirates or regional courts systems, said DIFC Court Judge Shamlan Al Sawalehi. The statement was made to quell concerns among the legal community following a government decree which recently broadened the jurisdiction of common law courts.
Al Sawalehi, who serves as a judge of the small claim tribunal and is also a judicial officer of the English-language court, said the DIFC Courts have already signed memoranda of understanding with the Dubai civil courts, the court in Ras al-Khaimah, and the federal Ministry of Justice in the United Arab Emirates. He said the court is currently in discussions with the Abu Dhabi courts to pass a similar MOU guaranteeing that any rulings made by the DIFC Courts will be enforced in the capital.
“In Abu Dhabi, if something comes up and (the MOU) needs to be done quickly, we can speed things up. But these things take time,” he said, speaking at a DIFC Courts lecture series in Dubai on Wednesday.
The Dubai government passed Law 16 in October last year, thus broadening the DIFC Courts’ jurisdiction beyond those companies registered in the free zone. Prior to the decree, only companies linked to the DIFC could bring a case before the court, which is based on British common law. All other onshore claimants in Dubai were sent to the Arabic-language Dubai civil courts – a system that many criticised for a lack of consistency and clarity in judgments.
While the business community cheered the change in law, concerns over enforceability within the UAE and the surrounding region remained. Under the GCC Protocol, the Gulf states must provide reciprocal enforcement arrangements for arbitral awards and judgments between the countries.
Until recently, the DIFC Courts had never issued an execution order to enforce foreign judgments in the DIFC, raising questions about whether its judgments would be upheld by other regional courts. That issue was resolved late last month when the DIFC Courts issued the first execution order to enforce a judgment by Bahrain’s Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs relating to the access of accounts at two DIFC banks.
DIFC Courts’ Justice Ali Al Madhani said in a statement at the time that the first cross border enforcement was significant in that it would pave the way for other regional courts to enforce rulings by the DIFC Courts.
“The true power of DIFC Courts' jurisdiction extension relies on its ability to enforce international rulings in the UAE, and likewise the guarantee that its judgments will be executed efficiently across the region,” he said.
Al Sawalehi added that more cross border enforcements bode well for the emirates within the UAE to uphold the judgments of DIFC Courts going forward. ALB
Other related stories: