Sunday, February 7, 2016

Arbitration cases on the rise in Qatar

By Sachin Kumar 

DOHA: More companies in Qatar are opting for out-of-court settlement to resolve their commercial disputes. Last year about 30 cases of commercial disputes from Qatar reached International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration body, whereas as a decade ago in 2005, the number of cases from Qatar for arbitration were less than five.


“There were around 30 cases from Qatar last year (2015). Rising cases means growth in local economy and that there is more international business in Qatar,” said Andrea Carlevaris, Secretary-General, ICC International Court of Arbitration, talking on the sidelines of the first International Arbitration Conference on Arbitration and Dispute Resolution organised by the International Chamber of Commerce Qatar last week in Doha.


“More cases also mean that Qatari parties are relying on the ICC as reliable dispute settlement mechanism. ICC arbitration system is considered reliable not only by international investors but also by Qatar’s private and public sector,” he added.

Globally arbitration is preferred by many as a way to resolve commercial disputes. It has significant advantages over litigation in court, such as party control of the process, lower cost and shorter time to resolution, flexibility and privacy. Usually companies stuck in a commercial disputes do not like to get unnecessary publicity and seek privacy in settlement.

“Companies prefer out of the court settle through arbitration because this process is comparatively fast and companies get privacy. Unrelated persons do not come to know which companies are settling disputes and on what matter,” said Thani bin Ali Al Thani, Board Member, Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration.

Most of the cases from Qatar gone for arbitration process came from construction and energy sector- the two sectors dominating Qatar’s economy. There are many mega development projects going on in Qatar involving many contractors and sub-contractors. The point of dispute were related to pricing or delay in the delivery of projects. “Construction and energy sector exhaust most of the cases coming to arbitration,” said Carlevaris.

Going forward more companies from Qatar are likely to go for arbitration process because of fluctuation in energy prices in the global market. Expert said that fluctuation in energy prices were one of the important reasons behind increasing number of cases coming for arbitration.

“Fluctuations in the energy prices has been a significant factor in the boom of these cases,” said Carlevaris.



No comments:

Post a Comment