The Centre for Amicable Dispute Settlement in Dubai overriding the choice of the parties to refer their disputes to Arbitration?

The Centre for Amicable Dispute Settlement (the Centre) was established in 2009 in Dubai, aiming at promoting the culture of amicable settlement and encouraging the use of alternative methods for settlement of disputes. The Centre’s main role is to provide a forum where parties avoid resorting to courts/tribunals, under the pretence that this will be more time and cost efficient. The Centre is affiliated with the Dubai Courts and the mediators appointed in the Centre act under the supervision of a judge from the Dubai Courts.

Decree No 8 of 2022 lists the disputes falling within the jurisdiction of the Centre, among which are claims for the assignment of experts.

Although the main role of the Centre is to mediate an amicable settlement between the parties, often claimants, who do not have sufficient evidence to prove their case before the Dubai courts, resort to the Centre for the appointment of an expert to gather factual evidence which they can then rely on to commence proceedings before the Dubai courts.

A party can request the appointment of an expert by the Centre if it is not seeking a determined monetary claim.  If the report issued by such expert is in the favor of a party, this may persuade the opposing party to settle the matter failing which the party in favor of whom the report is issued may commence proceedings before the court relying on the expert report. The courts generally considers reports issued by experts appointed by the Centre as persuasive evidence although the courts are not bound by the conclusions of experts.

Since proceedings before the Centre are considerably cheaper than proceedings before the Dubai courts, often claimants who do not want to incur the costs associated with court proceedings, commence proceedings before the Centre for the appointment of an expert to put pressure on the opposing party.

Although the Centre remains affiliated to the Dubai courts, in some cases parties apply to the Centre for the appointment of experts to opine on a dispute where the dispute is, however, subject to arbitration. The Centre and the judge supervising the Centre usually dismiss any challenge to the jurisdiction of the Centre due to the existence of an arbitration clause on the basis that the expert appointed by the Centre does not resolve the dispute but only gathers factual evidence and that the Centre does not issue any binding decision.

This is often the case in construction disputes, where parties register their case with the Centre seeking the appointment of an expert (which is often substantially cheaper than initiating arbitration proceedings). The Centre often dismisses any challenge to their jurisdiction but also any challenge to the mechanism of appointment of experts in circumstances where the parties have explicitly agreed on a specific mechanism to appoint experts to determine their dispute.

However, in such cases, the report produced by experts should not have much probatory value neither in any arbitration proceedings commenced by a party relying on such expert’s report (especially if the parties have agreed on a specific mechanism to appoint experts different from that imposed by the Centre) nor before the Dubai courts who should dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction due to the existence of an arbitration clause.

The UAE is widely considered as a reliable and arbitration-friendly jurisdiction, with a positive track record, experienced practitioners, a modern arbitration law, and efficient arbitral institutions like the Dubai International Arbitration Centre and the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre. The appointment of experts by the Centre to consider the factual elements of a dispute where the dispute is subject to arbitration appears, however, to be a limitation to the scope of the arbitration agreed between the parties.

This article was first published in the UAE edition - Legal Industry Review (LIR), edition no.1, August 2024.