News from the Courts – February 2015
Chief Justices Michael Hwang and Sundaresh Menon
Trade ties between Dubai and Singapore, two of the world’s leading business hubs, have been strengthened following the signing of a Memorandum of Guidance by the DIFC Courts and the Supreme Court of Singapore. The memorandum offers companies operating in both markets additional certainty about the strength of a contract by describing how the courts will enforce each other’s money judgments.
The memorandum was signed by the courts’ respective Chief Justices, Michael Hwang and Sundaresh Menon, during a ceremony in Dubai. Chief Justice Menon was in the UAE to give the keynote address at the first DIFC Courts lecture of 2015. His talk titled “International Commercial Courts: Towards a Transnational System of Dispute Resolution” was particularly pertinent as it followed this month’s launch of the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC), which forms part of the Supreme Court of Singapore.
The UAE and Singapore have become strong trading partners in recent years. According to estimates, bilateral trade between both countries reached AED80 billion in 2013, with the UAE being Singapore’s tenth largest trading partner.
The courts also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with regard to mutual references on questions of law. Michael Hwang, Chief Justice of the DIFC Courts, commented, “This will introduce into the Middle East the emerging concept of active comity between different jurisdictions where the laws of one jurisdiction are in issue in a trial in a case in another jurisdiction. DIFC Courts and the Supreme Court of Singapore have agreed that, where a case is filed in either of their Courts which requires a decision on a matter of law of the other country, the first (local) Court will consider directing the parties to have that question of foreign law determined by the Court of that other country. This will represent another milestone in the DIFC Courts’ international relations with other judiciaries. ”
The DIFC Courts also welcomed the Lord Mayor of London and a delegation of senior British business leaders on a tour of Dubai’s English-language commercial courts. Alderman Alan Yarrow, the 687th Lord Mayor of the City of London, is in the UAE as part of a series of visits to the world’s leading commercial and financial centres.
Dubai and the City of London have built strong legal links in recent years. In 2013, the DIFC Courts and the Commercial Court of England and Wales, both of which are recognised as being leading English-Language commercial courts, signed a Memorandum of Guidance defining such issues as the mutual enforcement of money decisions. The Memorandum is designed to provide greater certainty to investors, businessmen and lawyers in the UK who wish to develop closer trade and investment links with the emirate, and vice versa.
Alderman Alan Yarrow, Lord Mayor of the City of London, commented: “It is great to see the DIFC Courts go from strength-to-strength, and I applaud the global connections they are building, which started with the UK and now extend into Africa and Asia. It is becoming ever more important for commercial courts to work together to protect global investments.”
