Summary of the case

The case involved a petition for the execution of a court judgment issued by the Regional Court in Poznan, Poland, filed with the onshore courts in Dubai. The case involved Polish parties on both sides. However, the respondent also held a residence in Dubai, which resulted in the application being submitted to the Dubai courts. Although the court of first instance granted the petition, the court of appeal reversed the order on the basis that the courts of Dubai have international jurisdiction to consider the dispute over which that judgment was issued. The applicant referred the matter to the Dubai Court of Cassation ("Court") arguing that the respondent's residence in the UAE should not prevent lawsuits from being filed against him in his home country.

The Court, thus, had to address the different approaches of the lower courts in relation to the conditions for the enforcement of foreign court judgments in the UAE.

Conclusions of the Court

The Court agreed with the applicant and concluded that:

• The law does not allow the issuance of an order to enforce a judgment issued by a foreign court when UAE courts are exclusively competent to consider the dispute in which the judgment or order sought to be enforced was issued.
• Therefore, the fact that there is "shared jurisdiction" between the UAE courts and the foreign court, meaning that each of them is competent to consider that dispute, does not in itself prevent the issuance of an order to enforce that foreign judgment.

The Court relied on Clauses 1 and 2(a) of Article 85 of the Executive Regulations of the Civil Procedure Law issued by Cabinet Decision No. 57 of 2018, as amended ("Executive Regulations"), which were enacted when the previous Federal Law No. 11/1992 On the Civil Procedures Law ("Old Civil Procedure Law") was still in effect. The Old Civil Procedure Law did not expressly state that only exclusive jurisdiction prevents enforcement, but the Executive Regulations – when adopted – deviated from this approach and provided that no enforcement order shall be issued when "the courts of the State are not exclusively competent in the dispute in which the judgment or order was rendered". The same approach was adopted in Article 222 of New Civil Procedure Law, which maintained the condition that only exclusive jurisdiction of UAE courts can be a ground to refuse the enforcement application.

The Ruling is a welcome development that makes the regime of enforcement more predictable, and enforcement of foreign judgements more straightforward.

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*This article was authored by Luka Kristovic-Blazevic (Partner and Head of International Arbitration, Middle East), and Taisiya Vorotilova (Senior Associate, Dubai).