The Enforceability of DIAC arbitral awards by the DIFC Courts is confirmed: the DRA and DIAC join forces

John Gaffney and Malak Nasreddine

Two years ago, in the case of Banyan Tree v Meydan Group, an arbitral award rendered outside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) was enforced by the DIFC courts in circumstances where neither party was based nor had assets in the DIFC. The case demonstrated the willingness of the DIFC's courts to enforce awards rendered in Dubai (so called “onshore awards”), but still there remained uncertainty regarding the enforceability of such onshore awards. That uncertainty appears to have been removed, at least as far as awards rendered under the rules of arbitration of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) are concerned.

On 20 September 2016, the DIFC Dispute Resolution Authority (DRA), a body that administers dispute resolution within the DIFC, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with DIAC, an institution that provides dispute resolution and commercial arbitration services in Dubai, which is to facilitate the recognition, ratification and enforcement of DIAC arbitral awards in the DIFC.