CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS TO THE RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF ARBITRAL AWARDS: EVIDENCE FROM GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL (GCC) COUNTRIES AND ISLAMIC NON-GCC STATES

Abstract

This study discusses arbitration in the international community with a specific focus on arbitral award recognition and enforcement. It places a specific emphasis on the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and discusses the individual frameworks such countries have put in place for international award arbitral recognition and enforcement. It compares the level to which these legislative frameworks interface with both the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law. These frameworks are also examined from a perspective of their formative influences. As the GCC nations are Islamic in nature, the provisions of their legislative frameworks are, in regard to certain principles, including public policy, derived from holy texts such as Sunnah. Such provisions have, to a large extent, served to reduce the level of confidence that international investors have placed in arbitration in the GCC countries as an effective and just means of conflict resolution. In this context, this paper discusses how, and to what extent, the GCC nations have utilised the principle of public policy to interfere with international award enforcement.