Minister of Justice, H E Dr Hassan Lahdan Saqr Al Mohannadi speaking at the conference on arbitration at Westin Hotel yesterday. Pic Baher Amin / The Peninsula
DOHA: The Ministry of Justice has an ambitious plan for the development of the country’s arbitration system and a draft law on arbitration is expected to be issued soon.
Qatar has seen a gradual rise in the number of cases coming up before the arbitration centre. Last year, 275 cases of disputes involving over QR1bn in value came up before the Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration (QICCA).
“The Ministry has developed an ambitious plan for the development of arbitration and will implement this plan in cooperation with all national partners and centres of arbitration, lawyers and arbitrators,” said Minister of Justice H E Dr Hassan Lahdan Saqr Al Mohannadi yesterday. “The elements of this plan, include strengthening national legislative structure in the area of arbitration through the preparation of a new draft law in the field of arbitration in civil and commercial matters to keep pace with international standards and related developments. This law is expected to be issued in the near future,” the Minister said addressing the ‘Second World Conference on International Arbitration’ at Westin Hotel.
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution mechanism where parties to a dispute seek the resolution outside the courts.
The two-day conference is being orgainsed by QICCA at Qatar Chamber in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice.
In his speech during the opening session of the conference, the Minister presented the Ministry’s vision and strategy in the field of arbitration, saying that arbitration is playing a key and growing role at the local and international level as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
“The Ministry of Justice puts arbitration at the forefront of its priorities by creating effective national arbitration system that meets international standards in the field of arbitration,” said the Minister.
The Ministry is also planning to conduct training programs to prepare national cadres in the arbitration field through the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with specialised national and international institutions, said the Minister.
The second edition of the international conference aims to enhance the exchange of experiences and good practices in the field arbitration. The Minister said Qatar has been using the system of arbitration in civil and commercial matters, both at legislative and practical level. At the legislative level, the provisions of Part 13 of the Civil and Commercial Procedure Law No 13 of 1990 (amended) regulates arbitration in civil and commercial matters.
At the practical level, Qatar made tangible achievements in the field of arbitration with the launch of QICCA and the establishment of the Qatar Financial Centre.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani, President of QICCA and Chairman of Qatar Chamber said QICCA has managed to take arbitration in Qatar from free arbitration to regulated institutional arbitration that relies on global basics and principles from the rules of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law.
He added that the center has helped in achieving a qualitative leap in terms of the consolidation of arbitration in Qatar and contributed to the dissemination of the arbitration culture in the Qatari private sector through seminars and training courses. The conference brought together a number of legal experts, lawyers and specialists in the field of arbitration. The first edition of the conference was held in Doha in 2008, with the participation of the heads of commercial arbitration centers around the world.
