A CRITICAL COMPARISON OF THE RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION AWARDS BETWEEN SAUDI ARABIA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

Abstract

ABSTRACT

International Commercial Arbitration has transformed the Gulf and given an opportunity for heavily oil-dependent countries such as the UAE to diversify and access new income streams, with Dubai’s DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre recently posting a record year in 2019 with an increase in caseload of 18%, with the value of claims doubling the year before from $600m to $1.25bn. With Arbitration becoming an increasingly respected, utilised and supported means of dispute resolution within the influential Gulf Cooperation Council, it was only a matter of time before other countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia began to consider a broader uptake and offering of International Commercial Arbitration – with the Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration being incorporated under Cabinet Decree number 257 in 2014. In the most recent Middle East and African Arbitration Review 2021 published by the Global Arbitration Review it was noted how there had been a “complete transformation of Saudi Arabia’s commercial ADR ecosystem over the last decade that has dramatically altered the way those doing business in Saudi Arabia operate and access justice” . However, while the Saudi government now recognises the huge potential of International Commercial Arbitration, it was perhaps slower than other Gulf countries in seeking to realise its potential. Nonetheless, given the continued growth and success of smaller countries such as the UAE, there is still enormous potential for Saudi Arabia to grow to become the dominant centre for international commercial arbitration in the region. To this end, this paper critically compares and explores the rise of international commercial arbitration in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with more established countries such as the United Kingdom. It also considers the challenges to the growth and success of international commercial arbitration in the Kingdom, especially on account of discrepancies in its operation and that of international standards and the Shari’a and how the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s legal system might develop to better support the governments ‘categorial embrace of ADR’.