Prior to the establishment of the Emirates Union, Arbitration has been codified in Abu Dhabi Articles 82-98 of Federal Law No 3/1970, as well as in Article 32 of Dubai Law No. 1/1971 (Contracts Law). Such trend continued under the auspices of the Union as Article (13) of Federal Law No 11/1973 Concerning the Regulation of the Emirates Judicial Relations provided that arbitral awards issued in a certain Emirate are capable of execution in other Emirates of the Union. Keeping pace with the same trend , Articles (160) and (161) of the Federal Law No 8/1980 concerning the Regulation Of Labour Relations assigned to a committee called "The Supreme Arbitration Committee", the function of settling the collective work disputes.

Anyhow, the Federal Legislation did not allocate a special law for arbitration, but dedicated Chapter (3) of the Federal Law No (11) Concerning the Civil Proceedings for Arbitration. Accordingly, this legal regulation brought into being many complications and paradoxes, among which are: