The DIFC Court of Appeal has handed down its seminal decision in DNB Bank ASA v (1) Gulf Eyadah Corporation (2) Gulf Navigation Holdings PJSC (DIFC Case No 007/2015).

▪ The decision confirmed the DIFC Court's view that parties holding a money judgment or order from a foreign Court could use the DIFC Court as a conduit to recognise the foreign judgment, and then enforce the DIFC's judgment against assets held in Dubai.

▪ In his leading judgment, Chief Justice Hwang confirmed that “it is not wrong to use the DIFC Courts as a conduit jurisdiction to enforce a foreign judgment and then use reciprocal mechanisms to execute against assets in another jurisdiction.”

The Court's judgment is considered in further detail below.

Implications