In collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB), Mahmoud Abuwasel will be presenting on a recent landmark judgment by the Dubai Cassation Court where the FIDIC arbitration clause was rejected.

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About the event:

In a recent judgment, the highest Court in Dubai, the Dubai Cassation Court ruled that incorporating a FIDIC contract (general conditions) by reference into a transaction does not necessarily bind the parties to the arbitration clause therein that FIDIC general conditions. The parties had agreed that the 1987 FIDIC Red Book General Conditions shall govern the transaction, however, the Dubai Cassation Court found that because there was no explicit reference to the arbitration clause of the General Conditions, it cannot be construed that the parties had explicitly agreed to the arbitration clause.

FIDIC model contracts are used often in the Middle East and in the UAE and the new UAE Arbitration Law was only promulgated in 2018. In this judgment, the Dubai Cassation Court also sheds light on the judicial approach with respect to Article 7(2)(b) of the Federal Arbitration Law which permits incorporating arbitration clauses by reference.

With many parties having incorporated by reference a FIDIC model contract, this new judgment by the highest court in Dubai makes it necessary for parties to revisit their contracts, plan accordingly for their new transactions, address their current standard contracts, and ensure that they are complying with not only the Arbitration Law, but also the approach of the judiciary towards arbitration provisions in FIDIC contracts (and any other alternative dispute resolution methods such as DABs). 

Speaker:

Mahmoud Abuwasel – Managing Partner/Wasel & Wasel

Mahmoud is a Harvard graduate practitioner with substantial experience in the Gulf region, focusing on corporate, construction, and tax disputes, and represents clients in litigation and arbitration.

Mahmoud has consulted on, presented and written on, and provided training on the FIDIC rainbow suite in the GCC and Jordan, and has represented employers, contractors, and subcontractors in the UAE and regionally in court and arbitration disputes arising out of FIDIC governed projects.

He has represented leading HNW investors, publicly listed companies, Government companies, large family holding companies, and multinationals in multi-billion-dollar litigation and arbitration proceedings and is regularly published and interviewed in leading news outlets. 

Event timings:

1:00pm – 2:00pm GST (UAE, Oman)
12:00pm – 1:00pm AST (KSA, Qatar)
11:00am – 12:00pm EEST (Egypt)
10:00am – 11:00am GMT (United Kingdom)

Event fees: Free to attend to all

Contact details: Lauren Oldham, loldham@ciob.ae.org