The Registrar of the Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre (“QICDRC”), Mr. Christopher Grout, has welcomed the arrival of Qatari Law No 2 of 2017- issuing the Arbitration Act in Civil and Commercial Matters- at the Kluwer Law 5th Annual International Arbitration Summit held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai.
Praising the arrival of the much anticipated new law Mr. Grout told an audience of arbitrators, lawyers and other legal professionals that the law would boost Qatar’s prominence in the Region as the place to arbitrate. The law, which is based upon the well-respected UNCITRAL Model Law, is likely to be regarded as a welcome development by arbitration practitioners both local and international. Moreover, the provision allowing parties to elect the Qatar International Court (established in law as the QFC Civil and Commercial Court) as the supervising court of the arbitration will be viewed as an added bonus.
In addition to celebrating the Arbitration Act, the Summit tackled other relevant issues including recent developments affecting arbitration in the MENA Region, treaty arbitration, managing expert witnesses, international trade disputes and enforcement.
As to the latter, Mr. Grout observed that the recent decision of the QFC Civil and Commercial Court in Case No 6 of 2016 had rightly been reported by various members of the press as “groundbreaking” and a legal “landmark”, that case having confirmed that the QFC Civil and Commercial Court had the jurisdiction and the powers to enforce its judgments throughout the State of Qatar.