News from the DIFC & ADGM

• Abu Dhabi Global Market’s (ADGM) state-of-the-art arbitration hearing facility, the ADGM Arbitration Centre, commenced full operations on October 17, 2018. The ADGM Arbitration Centre further augments and enhances the arbitration infrastructure and landscape in MENA with its outstanding service offering and facilities, raising the standards of dispute resolution and business confidence in the region. The Centre caters to the ongoing strong demand for arbitration as parties’ preferred form of dispute resolution for their commercial or civil disputes. Anchored in the financial free zone of Abu Dhabi, the ADGM Arbitration Centre offers advanced technology and world-class hearing facilities for local and global parties to resolve their disputes through arbitration or mediation without geographic constraints. Consistent with ADGM’s approach of consulting with and meeting the needs and requirements of the business and legal community, the Centre is open to all, regardless of the arbitral institution administering the dispute. E. Ahmed Al Sayegh, chairman of ADGM,commented, “The ADGM Arbitration Centre strengthens Abu Dhabi’s position on the global map as a strategic centre for arbitration services that appeal to businesses and individuals from around the world. The Centre’s offering is set to further advance the UAE’s dispute resolution landscape, foster new business opportunities, and boost investment opportunities in the capital.” Linda Fitz-Alan, CEO of ADGM Courts, added, “We are very pleased to open the Arbitration Centre, which once again reinforces ADGM’s role as a first mover in the region and places Abu Dhabi alongside the world’s existing major centres for arbitration. Like in many of those centres, arbitral awards in ADGM are recognisable and enforceable under the New York Convention, and its regulations are modelled on the UNCITRAL Model Law with contemporary modifications and enhancements that address the evolving business needs of the arbitration community. As an independent jurisdiction with its own civil and commercial laws, independent courts and with many of the world’s leading law firms present, ADGM is in a very strong position to support the requirements of users even more broadly with the addition of these arbitration and mediation facilities.”
• The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts has brought additional certainty to UAE-India commerce with the signing a Guidance Note with Nishith Desai Associates, covering enforcement of civil and commercial judgments through DIFC Courts and the Courts of India. The Guidance Note, with one of the leading law firms in India, builds on the DIFC Courts’ strategy of taking practical steps to promote judicial convergence, in this case with the UAE’s third largest foreign trade partner. With over ten years’ track record of handling complex, transnational disputes as an English language, common law international commercial court, the DIFC Courts is well-positioned to provide detailed guidance to parties seeking recognition and enforcement of civil and commercial judgments in India and the DIFC. Currently 26,000 Indian firms and over 40,000 UAE-based firms owned by non-resident Indians (NRIs) operate in the UAE, and bilateral trade is estimated at $53 billion last year, leading to ever-greater economic interdependence. Increased foreign trade has resulted in a steep rise in the number of cross-border transactions and a proportionate rise in commercial disputes, leading to a greater need for contract and judgment enforcement. As a result, amendments to India’s 2015 ‘Commercial Courts Act’ were introduced in 2018 to allow state governments to establish commercial courts at the district level. This timely guidance from the DIFC Courts and Nishith Desai Associates will help businesses trading between UAE and India benefit when it comes to recognition and collection of money judgments, reducing risk and fostering greater certainty. The Guidance Note was signed in India, following a DIFC Courts delegation visit to meet Honourable Justice Manmohan, Judge, High Court of Delhi, and Gaurav Pachnanda, Senior Advocate at the Indian Bar and member of Fountain Court Chambers.