Arbitration is a dispute resolution method commonly used by businesses as an alternative to traditional courts. Arbitration clauses are very common in commercial contracts, especially high value contracts critical to business operations. This blog post will highlight some of the key differences between the two pathways:
Confidentiality
Arbitration has the key advantage of confidentiality in its proceedings, where no unrelated party has access to hearings or any related documents. Contrary to that, in traditional courts, all court hearings are public unless an application is submitted under specific circumstances, regulated by the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law, which most commercial cases do not fall under. This can jeopardise sensitive information included in the contract or the dealings in dispute.
Choice of Language
Traditional courts are bound to deal only in the Arabic language, if the dealings and paperwork are in any other language a certified translation of the document must be submitted instead. Arbitration on the other hand is versatile when it comes to the choice of language, the parties have the choice to select the language in which the arbitration can be conducted. This can, for example, allow the parties to conduct the arbitration in English if they wish to.
Governing Law
Similar to the choice of language, in arbitration, the law gives the parties the power to choose the governing law that is used to decide on the matter of the dispute. It is very common to see arbitrations all around the world that are governed by English law. In traditional courts, you are bound by the governing law of the Sultanate and the parties to do not have the power to change this law.
Selection of Judges and Arbitrators
The selection of Judges is outside the control of the party litigating in traditional courts. On the other hand, arbitration allows the parties choose the number, criteria, and the actual arbitrators that will decide on the matter in dispute. This may be more efficient if the case has many technicalities, in this case the arbitrator can be an expert in the same field instead of traditional courts employing an expert themselves.
Conclusion
Arbitration provides many advantages through its flexibility and customisability to suit business needs. I highly recommend anyone interested in business disputes to familiarise themselves with the Law of Arbitration in Civil and Commercial Disputes.You can read it in full in English on the link below:
