The Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre (QICDRC) has hosted a seminar titled ‘An overview of the New Arbitration Law and the Role of the Qatar International Court to Assist and Supervise Arbitration’. The speakers at the seminar were Counsel Abdelrouf Elbekei, a former judge at the Court of Cassation in Qatar, Judge Mubarak Saad Al-Hajri, General Legal Counsel at Qatar International Court and Mr. Harith Al-Kutubi, International Arbitrator and Partner at Sharq Law Firm.
Dr. Zain Al Sharar gave attendees a warm welcome, where the group of individuals consisted from various legal departments of businesses across the country. QICDRC CEO Mr. Faisal Al-Sahouti was also present at the seminar, where topics discussed included the impact of the new arbitration law and its procedural use.
Judge Al-Hajri pointed out that the new Qatari arbitration law acknowledges and emphasizes the trust given by the Qatari legislator to QICDRC by expanding its judicial authority. He went on to say that QICDRC can now be considered equal in authority to that of the national courts, in terms of its power to view and decide disputes arising from or related to arbitrational matters.
Cousnel Elbekei discussed that the new arbitration law is in accordance with the arbitration model law to a large extent. He went on to indicate that the Qatari legislator gave a broad freedom for the parties to choose most of the arbitral procedurals, particularly the choice of the competent court.
Mr. Al-Kutubi then discussed the practical problems in situations and suggested solutions for them, according to the new arbitration law.
At the end of the seminar, the attendees took part in a Q&A session, which was met with enthusiastic reaction from the speakers.