The Dubai Court of Cassation recently clarified when an arbitral award has res judicata effect. In a judgment dated 21 August 2016 (Commercial Appeal 199 of 2014), the Court held that an award has res judicata effect from the moment it is issued, and will only cease to have that effect if and when it is annulled. The fact that an award was under review by the local court did not mean that the award lacked res judicata effect, or that it would only gain res judicata effect once it had been upheld. This meant that an application to the court for the appointment of a Tribunal was to be rejected whilst there was an extant arbitral award dealing with the issues in dispute. 