In 2017, the State of Qatar passed Qatar Law No. 2/2017 on the Issuance of the Arbitration Law in Civil and Commercial Matters. Qatar Law No. 2/2017, which is based upon the UNCITRAL Model Law, updated Qatar's arbitration law which had been contained within Qatar Law No. 13/1990 on the Issuance of the Civil and Commercial Procedure Law.

One of the most significant developments contained within Qatar Law No. 2/2017 is to be found in the Definitions section in article 1 of Qatar Law No. 2/2017. The competent court for the purposes of Qatar Law No. 2/2017 is either “[t]he Civil and Commercial Arbitral Disputes Circuit in the Court of Appeals, or the First Instance Circuit of the Civil and Commercial Court of the Qatar Financial Centre (i.e., the Qatar International Court) pursuant to the agreement of the Parties”. Accordingly, where the parties have agreed that the Qatar International Court will have the requisite jurisdiction, references in Qatar Law No. 2/2017 to the competent court are references to the Qatar International Court.