Divergent paths in arbitration enforcement: public policy in UAE onshore vs DIFC Courts

The United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) is unusual among major arbitration centres in featuring a dual judicial system: the federal onshore courts operating within a civil law framework (“Onshore Courts”), and the courts that operate in the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”).

Arbitration plays a central role in commercial dispute resolution in each of those systems. However, given the radically different legal personalities of this dual judicial system, there are inevitable instances where there is tension between the two systems concerning the court’s application of legal principles in the context of international arbitration. One such instance is the seldom successful and often misunderstood public policy exception, which is one of the limited grounds on which parties can challenge enforcement of arbitration awards in each of the above systems.

This article discusses the public policy exception and compares how the Onshore Courts and the DIFC courts approach the doctrine of public policy, examining the nuances in how these two courts interpret and apply the public policy exception in practice.

Please click the link to read the full article, the third in the CMS Arbitration Atlas series:

Divergent paths in arbitration enforcement: public policy in UAE onshore vs DIFC Courts