SCCA represents Saudi at Arab League meeting to develop dispute resolution regulation

Published Date: 13/10/2022

Proceeding from its role in furthering the legislative structure for the region’s alternative dispute resolution (ADR) industry, the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA) participated in the 11th meeting of the Committee of Legal Experts Developing the Procedural Rules Regulation on Dispute Resolution Within the Framework of the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA), held at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo. 

As a representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the field of arbitration locally and internationally, and as a normative reference for the industry in the region, SCCA participated as part of the country’s official delegation at the meeting. It benefits from its institutional regulatory framework in dispute resolution management, which it has worked to update and improve in recent years. 

The Committee’s 11th meeting, which was held on 11–13 October, aimed to complete work on the development of the dispute resolution procedural rules regulation. It was initiated based on a September 2018 decision of the Economic and Social Council of the Arab League calling for a review of the regulation in the light of international developments. The work involves many considerations, such as the timings of different procedures, the existence of a mechanism to ensure that arbitration awards or Arab Investment Court rulings are binding, and so on. 

The mechanism draft includes 35 articles dealing with the procedures for resolving disputes between Arab countries within the framework of GAFTA, pursuant to the provisions of any of the relevant agreements or annexes. These include the Agreement to Facilitate and Develop Inter-Arab Trade, the GAFTA Executive Program, and the Agreement to Liberalize Trade in Services.