Two years ago, in the case of Banyan Tree v Meydan Group, an arbitral award rendered outside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) was enforced by the DIFC courts in circumstances where neither party was based nor had assets in the DIFC. The case demonstrated the willingness of the DIFC’s courts to enforce awards rendered ian Dubai (so called “onshore awards”), but still there remained uncertainty regarding the enforceability of such onshore awards. That uncertainty appears to have been removed, at least as far as awards rendered under the rules of arbitration of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) are concerned.
