Business | General
DIFC Courts now ready to handle disputes
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, an independent judicial system established about four years ago, is now fully operational and ready to take on civil and commercial disputes arising from and within the finance district, officials announced on Thursday.
- By Cleofe Maceda, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:27 October 10, 2008
Dubai: The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, an independent judicial system established about four years ago, is now fully operational and ready to take on civil and commercial disputes arising from and within the finance district, officials announced on Thursday.
The announcement followed the appointments of Mark Beer as the DIFC Courts registrar and Amnah Al Owais as deputy registrar, who completed the staff requirements of the judicial body, which was created under laws enacted in 2004 by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
"When we started, there were four matters to deal with. First was to set up the court premises, then the court staff, the rules of the court and then the judges. Now, we have everything in place," said Sir Anthony Evans, DIFC Courts chief justice, during a press briefing.
"We are now in the position to offer a full court service. The appointments of Beer and Al Owais have really put the last pieces of the jigsaw in place. We are aiming to bring to this region the highest standard of common law," Evans added.
The DIFC Courts have been designed to deal with complex cases that may involve sophisticated financial transactions. Headed by eight eminent judges with extensive experience from various countries that include Singapore, Malay-sia and New Zealand, the judicial body follows the rules modelled on English Civil Procedure Rules.
Evans said there were already about eight main cases started in 2007. "There were at least two major judgments given and in one of them, there was an appeal which was heard early this year. And this year, there are five new cases," said Evans.
Nature
"The nature of the courts is that they're open and transparent. All the sittings, cases are open to the public and the orders and judgments arising from the cases are published in the website. The court welcomes the public and the media.
"We have developed special seats for the media where they can write their notes and record what's happening," added Beer, who joined the DIFC Courts after five years with MasterCard Worldwide in Dubai where he worked as the company's regional legal counsel for South Asia, Middle East and Africa.
Evans pointed out that the DIFC Courts is an independent judicial system that seeks to offer the highest standards in legal dispute resolution. He said the courts also provide a small claims tribunal, which specialises on cases that involve claims less than Dh100,000.
The tribunal proved to be increasingly popular, Evans said, as it logged about 30 cases in 2007 and 40 cases this year.
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