Understanding the jurisprudence of the Arab Gulf States national courts on the implementation of the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards

Abstract

The 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (NY Convention) is a treaty connected with arbitration, the system of dispute resolution used in international trade. In today’s practice, the international commercial arbitration system based on the NY Convention effectively facilitates resolution of multinational commercial disputes and contributes to the world’s continuing economic development. The NY Convention is at work only in the courtroom, which means that its terms and provisions have to be construed by local state judges and then applied to the facts of a case. The presence of efficient judiciaries capable of interpreting and applying the NY Convention in a manner compatible with international arbitration norms and standards is an important pillar for the use of arbitration in any state. However, some judicial practices of Arab Gulf States in implementing the NY Convention show undesirable attitudes to the business and arbitration communities in this region. This research article seeks to examine these critical judicial practices to understand whether the undesirable attitudes are related to the courts’ commitments to implement the NY Convention, or to the level of familiarity the Arab State judiciaries have with the well-established norms and features of the NY Convention.