Alternative Means to Resolve Administrative Contractual Disputes in the State of Qatar

Abstract

Administrative agreements, namely public procurement agreements, are considered as the most important types of agreements in the countries adopting the Latin legal tradition. Indeed, under these agreements, the public budget is disbursed and public utilities are, at times, managed.

The conclusion and enforcement of these agreements definitely raise many and different disputes that require a fair and balanced settlement for both parties. However, the most important requirement of the settlement of these disputes is speed. This is because these agreements deal with economic values that keep changing and cannot be held in abeyance for a long time.

Hence, we should highlight the importance of studying the alternative means for resolving administrative agreements’ disputes in the Qatari law. Especially after the growth of public budgets over the past few years and the increase in the number of concluded administrative agreements dealing with great sums.

It is noticeable that the Qatari law lacks an integrated system related to the alternative means of resolving administrative agreements’ disputes. The Qatari law, instead, holds provisions that are scattered over different legislation related thereto. Although these Qatari legislation deal with alternative means of settling administrative agreements, they suffer from ambiguity and lack of many important provisions.

These provisions dealing with the settlement of administrative agreements’ disputes include the Auction Law No. (4) of the year 2015 (the provisions of which were different from those held by the Auction Law No. (24) of the year 2015); and also in the new Qatar Arbitration Law No. (2) of the year 2017. These provisions are also set forth in the Auction Law No. (4) of the year 2015 that established a competent committee for urgent resolution of administrative agreement's disputes. Provisions covering the alternative means for dealing with administrative agreements are also found in the Qatari Civil Law and other legislative texts related to the resolution of administrative disputes.