This Practice Note introduces the reader to the principal grounds on which the jurisdiction of an investment tribunal sitting in the Gulf and/or under the procedural framework for investment arbitration prevailing there may be challenged. In doing so, the note discusses the relevant jurisdictional threshold criteria and takes a look at the proper personal, temporal and subject matter scope of the tribunal's jurisdiction.

In particular, the Practice Note explores the various procedural grounds that may give rise to such a challenge, such as:

• an investor's failure to comply with conditions precedent,

• the investor's exercise of a fork in the road,

• a host State's lack of proper consent, and

• an investor's lack of proper standing, including the claiming party's proper qualification as an “investor”.

The Practice Note also investigates the limits of the subject matter scope of the tribunal's jurisdiction, taking account of the “investment” requirement under prevailing regional investment instruments as well as the place and the timing of a qualifying investment and any pre-approval requirements.