INSERT INTO `tm_wsal_metadata` (`id`, `occurrence_id`, `name`, `value`) VALUES
(270244, 26099, 'MetaValueNew', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong><img class=\"wp-image-8104 alignleft\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"512\" />Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
(270245, 26099, 'MetaValueOld', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong><img class=\"alignright  wp-image-8104\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"349\" height=\"670\" />Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" />\r\n</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
(270246, 26099, 'MetaLink', 'content'),
(270247, 26099, 'EditorLinkPost', 'https://www.tamimi.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=7956&amp;action=edit'),
(270248, 26099, 'ReportText', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong><img class=\"alignright  wp-image-8104\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"349\" height=\"670\" />Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" />\r\n</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>|<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong><img class=\"wp-image-8104 alignleft\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"512\" />Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
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(270298, 26104, 'MetaValueNew', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-8104\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"361\" />The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
(270299, 26104, 'MetaValueOld', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong><img class=\"wp-image-8104 alignleft\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"512\" />Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
(270300, 26104, 'MetaLink', 'content'),
(270301, 26104, 'EditorLinkPost', 'https://www.tamimi.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=7956&amp;action=edit'),
(270302, 26104, 'ReportText', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong><img class=\"wp-image-8104 alignleft\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"512\" />Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>|<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-8104\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"361\" />The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
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(270348, 26108, 'MetaValueNew', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"wp-image-8104 alignright\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"361\" />The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
(270349, 26108, 'MetaValueOld', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-8104\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"361\" />The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
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(270351, 26108, 'EditorLinkPost', 'https://www.tamimi.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=7956&amp;action=edit'),
(270352, 26108, 'ReportText', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-8104\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"361\" />The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>|<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8036\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_714698206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"5500\" height=\"1558\" /></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are notable for several things. US Athlete Carl Lewis picked up an amazing 4 gold medals. The particularly 1980s pastime of wind surfing was included as a sport. It was the first time that organisers limited the number of sponsors that could be attached to the Olympic Games, arranging tiers of high value sponsorship and limiting sponsors to one per product category. Commercially, the Games were funded privately, and remains one of the few games to ever make a profit.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In addition, the 1984 Olympic Games recorded the first acknowledged case of ambush marketing when Kodak, then the world’s most popular film for cameras, lost the right to sponsor the Games to its rival Fuji Film. In retaliation, Kodak sponsored the US broadcast of the Games on NBC, and sponsored the entire US team. The vast majority of viewers of the games believed that Kodak was the sponsor, angering both the IOC and Fuji Film. Since then, organisers of sporting events and large scale commercial events (such as Expo 2020) have been seeking ways to ensure that companies that have no commercial sponsorship rights do not act in a way that leverages off the goodwill of the event in a way that devalues the benefits provided to the actual sponsors of that event.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Types of Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Since the early days of ambush marketing, marketers have become extremely clever at developing ways for non-sponsoring brands to create false links to major events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">They may do this by attempting to create an association with the event itself. A very clever example of this, and one that was successful and remained unchallenged by the organisers because of its simplicity, was the association that Beats by Dr Dre headphones made with the 2012 London Games by providing free headphones to the British athletes.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"wp-image-8104 alignright\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-Shot-2018-08-02-at-12.41.16-PM-790x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"361\" />The other method is ambush by intrusion in this case the brand sends its brand into the stadiums of event locations and exposes it to cameras. Early amateur examples of this saw brands paying people to stand behind goals or near interview subjects with cardboard placards bearing the brand logo, although the levels of sophistication have escalated significantly since then.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Brands sometimes ‘coat-tail’ a marketing association. Whilst not event sponsors, they may sponsor a competitor or provide equipment to a key member of the team. Similar to this they may use distractive ambushing – they may set up a smaller event (such as a concert or DJ event) near the main event to gain traction with fans.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Brazil 2014 World Cup saw the rise of a new and more difficult category of ambush marketing – the social ambush, involving the use of hashtags. Hashtags are often extremely opportunistic – happening within minutes of a notable occurrence at the event. For example, when Suarez bit an opponent in the 2014 World Cup, Snickers response was swift and went viral: \"Hey @luis16suarez. Next time you’re hungry just grab a Snickers. #worldcup #luissuarez #EatASNICKERS\". With a staggering 672 million Tweets created for World Cup 2014, and with social media continuing to increase its role in marketing across the board, we can expect this difficult area of ambush marketing to become more prevalent for future events.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Some of these types of ambush marketing are more palatable to event organisers than others. Unfortunately not all are easy to control.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Legal Basis for Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It has always been difficult for lawyers to find ways to deal with ambush marketing. In some cases, it can be claimed that the marketing campaign is infringing on the IP rights of either the event organiser or possibly even the official sponsor. There may be some assistance from competition laws, where they extend to passing off. Perhaps a little legal relief may be gained from the advertising regulations of the country in question – can it be perhaps argued that the advertising is deceptive in seeking to create a link with the event that does not exist?</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Beyond this, the law becomes increasingly unhelpful.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Historically, the strongest way to deal with ambush marketing was to register a suite of trademarks and, then, using the trademarks legislation to bring action for infringement. However, this is increasingly less helpful as non-sponsoring brands become more adept at using subtle ways to imply a link to the event without the use of the trademarks involved. Clever marketing executives work with clever lawyers, and together they navigate a campaign idea though the many legal gaps.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst some countries may be able to rely on their trade practices or competition laws, these will not be as helpful in the UAE. There are no ‘look and feel’ rights associated with an event, and no laws that say that a company cannot act in a way that compromises contractual rights of a third party. It is possible that the event organiser and the event sponsor would find that, legally, they have few (or no) options in a courtroom.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Because of this common gap in the laws, many countries implement event-specific laws to protect both the organisers and the event sponsors from ambush marketing. For example, for the Russian 2018 World Cup, the Russian government passed Federal Law No. FZ-108 in 2013. This follows the pathway set by past governments seeking to protect large events that are held in their countries – enacting laws designed to provide quick solutions to the problems of ambush marketing. Generally speaking, these laws create new offences relating to the creation of any unauthorised association with the event – for example the Russian law is drafted broadly and captures anything that might falsely suggests that the product has the approval, recommendation, certification by, or connection with FIFA or the World Cup. The laws include heavy fines which can be implemented by the government itself, bypassing the need for any civil case to be launched.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Without such laws in place well before the start of the event, the event organiser can expect to have a much more difficult time in preventing ambush marketing activities. But it is wise to remember that, even with such laws, an event organiser may struggle to stop an advertiser from, say, using a football game within its advertising during a World Cup, or referencing a world trade exhibition during an Expo.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Reacting to Ambush Marketing</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Any entity with a large event approaching needs to strategise carefully its reaction to ambush marketing. Our suggestions include the following:</p>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Very large events, such as Expo 2020 or the Asian Cup 2019, must have as much government support as possible in the form of comprehensive and well-crafted legislation to allow a fine to be levied against undesirable activity.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Where press is to be properly authorized for entry to the event, it should be made clear that any form of ambush marketing, even if only carried by that press outlet as advertising, will permit the cancellation of the press badges of all their correspondents.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Come to an understanding with key stakeholders about the scope of ambush marketing – what they will and will not allow. Obviously the key element is to consider whether the ambushing brand is trying to deceive consumers into thinking that they are associated with your event. But you should make sure that you consider the fine points of what association means to each of you. If a brand posts \"We are proud to be part of #Expo2020 this year\" that may be too far from most stakeholders. But what about a post that is less direct and simply reads: \"Congratulations to #mydubai on the opening of #Expo2020\"? Do stakeholders all agree that this is less direct, aimed at creating a link to the trending hashtags as much as the event. Is this worth chasing? It is important to know the position of all stakeholders in advance.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Ensure all key stakeholders are aligned on the actions that will be taken under point 3. For example if the plan for ambush by intrusion is to remove the item that will be creating the ambush inside a venue, it is imperative that all stakeholders are aware of that planned action, from government to broadcaster, from sponsor to security company.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">Plan outcomes early and then develop action plans and template letters to cover all possible types of ambush marketing so that management has approved both the plan and the letters well in advance. Create a Protocol and Action Handbook that all staff from all stakeholders can have on hand so that everyone knows the process, timing, approvals and documents that are to be used. Time cannot be lost in seeking approvals when the event is actually in progress and in addition, a united front will assist all stakeholders to a better (and expected) result.</li>\r\n 	<li dir=\"LTR\">And finally, plan your social media tone and voice carefully and ensure adequate trained resources are available to react quickly to any social ambush.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Whilst event sponsors are carefully planning and managing their marketing executions around the next big event, non-sponsor brands are similarly planning strategic and clever ambush marketing campaigns. Event organisers cannot do enough planning to ensure that the reactions taken to such ambush marketing are concise, controlled and consistent – to do anything else could severely compromise the position of their sponsors and affect these important contractual relationships.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8035\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_549959791.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"4500\" height=\"1500\" /></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>Al Tamimi &amp; Company’s TMT team regularly advises on the full spectrum of technology, media and telecommunications matters and provides key support to our Expo 2020 practice group. For further information, please contact expo2020@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
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(270500, 26121, 'ReportText', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-8039 \" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<em><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em>|<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-8039 \" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<em><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em>'),
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(270546, 26125, 'MetaValueNew', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-8039 \" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
(270547, 26125, 'MetaValueOld', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-8039 \" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<em><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em>'),
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(270550, 26125, 'ReportText', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-8039 \" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<em><img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em>|<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-8039 \" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
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(270607, 26130, 'MetaValueNew', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"wp-image-8039  alignleft\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n <img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
(270608, 26130, 'MetaValueOld', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-8039 \" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
(270609, 26130, 'MetaLink', 'content'),
(270610, 26130, 'EditorLinkPost', 'https://www.tamimi.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=7958&amp;action=edit');
INSERT INTO `tm_wsal_metadata` (`id`, `occurrence_id`, `name`, `value`) VALUES
(270611, 26130, 'ReportText', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-8039 \" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em></p>|<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"wp-image-8039  alignleft\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n <img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
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(270646, 26133, 'MetaValueNew', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"wp-image-8039 alignleft\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n <img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
(270647, 26133, 'MetaValueOld', '<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><img class=\"wp-image-8039  alignleft\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/shutterstock_1032816913-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"447\" height=\"298\" />On 29 March 2018, His Highness King Abdullah Al Thani Ibn Al Hussein promulgated Law No. (16) for the year 2018, a law amending the Jordanian Arbitration Law No. (31) for the year 2001 (the \"Amended Law\").</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces new and anticipated changes to the procedural framework of arbitrations seated in Jordan, many of which can be traced in the UNCITRAL Model Law as amended in 2006. Further, the Amended Law provides for much needed clarity on some of the ambiguities witnessed under the previous regime.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In this article, we highlight the key features of the Amended Law and discuss some of their practical implications on the conduct of arbitral proceedings in Jordan.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Scope of Application</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law came into force thirty (30) days after its publication in the Official Gazette No. 5513/2018 dated 2 May 2018. The Amended Law will apply to arbitrations seated in Jordan, as well as arbitrations in which the parties agree to subject such arbitration proceedings to the Amended Law, and irrespective of the nature of the legal relationship giving rise to the dispute.</p>\r\nTo this end, the Amended Law defines the \"<em>Seat of Arbitration</em>\" as \"<em>the country agreed upon by the parties to the arbitration to be the seat of the arbitral proceedings, the country whose applicable arbitration law is agreed upon by the parties to apply to the arbitral proceedings or the country selected by the arbitral tribunal as its seat in the absence of an agreement.</em>\"\r\n\r\nThe Amended Law further defines the \"Competent Judge\" as \"<em> The head of the Competent Court or any of its judges as authorized by the head of the Competent Court in writing</em>.\"\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is worth noting that the Amended Law will not have a retroactive effect. As such, it will only apply to arbitral proceedings and/or court cases that have commenced or are currently ongoing and/or being examined before arbitral tribunals and/or courts. For purposes of determining the commencement date of arbitral proceedings, the Amended law, under article 26, considers the date of the formal constitution of the arbitral tribunal as the date of commencement of the arbitral proceedings.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interpretation</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">An important addition reflected in the Amended Law is the explicit reference to legal principles and guidelines of international arbitration, as well as international trade customs, as sources of interpretation of the provisions of the Jordan Arbitration Law.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitration Agreement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law has brings changes to the rules governing arbitration agreements. While the Amended Law has reconfirmed the writing requirement for the validity of arbitration agreements, it specified that the writing requirement can be satisfied through any form, including electronic correspondence. A welcome change in the Amended Law lies in the explicit admission of arbitration agreements incorporated by reference. There are indeed instances where an arbitration agreement may be incorporated by reference to an arbitration agreement contained in another document. Under the previous regime, an arbitration agreement incorporated by reference was regarded as valid provided the reference itself clearly considered the arbitration agreement to form part of the main agreement entered into between the parties. The Amended Law eases the conditions of validity of arbitration agreements by removing the requirement for an explicit acknowledgment that the arbitration agreement incorporated by reference forms part of the main agreement. Under the regime of the Amended Law, any reference or indication contained in the main agreement concluded between the parties to another document containing an arbitration agreement is deemed to be analogous to a written arbitration clause under the original agreement. This is particularly useful in instances where parties sign specific terms and conditions which contain a reference to general terms and conditions containing an arbitration agreement.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also stipulates that prior arbitration agreements in employment contracts and consumer contracts concluded on preprinted forms shall be null and void. This amendment, in particular the ban on arbitrating any dispute that may arise out of an employment contract, is in line with the most recent and prevailing decisions of the Jordanian courts.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Tribunal</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces provisions relating to the number of arbitrators, their appointment and the designation of the presiding tribunal member in events where the disputing parties are 3 or more. According to Article (16) of the Amended Law, an agreement on the appointment and number of arbitrators as well as on the mechanism of appointing of the presiding member by the disputing parties shall always take precedence and prevail however, in absence of any such agreement: (i) the Competent Judge will appoint the arbitrators if their number was agreed upon between the disputing parties and will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (ii) Where the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment is not agreed upon by the disputing parties, the arbitral tribunal must then be comprised of 3 members appointed by the Competent Judge who will also name the presiding tribunal member and; (iii) if the number of arbitrators and their method of appointment was known, the appointed arbitrators must select the presiding member by a majority decision, if the majority was not achieved, the Competent Judge will name the presiding member pursuant to a request by any of the disputing parties. The Amended Law grants any of the disputing parties the right to resort to the Competent Judge in event of a disagreement as to any of the matters pertaining to the appointment of arbitrators who, in turn, must rule as necessary to resolve such disagreement. Finally in this regard, the Amended Law placed a duty on the Competent Judge, when selecting an arbitrator, (i) to consider the requirements of the law and the parties’ pre-set conditions in this regard and; (ii) to accelerate the process of decision making when selecting an arbitrator. Under the previous regime, decisions by the Competent Court appointing an arbitrator(s) were not subject to appeal before a higher court and were to be considered final. The Amended Law, in this regard, implicitly allows for an appeal of the Competent Judge’s decision by deleting, from the amended relevant article, the previous explicit text on the appeal constraints.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the challenge of arbitrators, the Amended Law placed a duty on both the prospective and appointed arbitrators to be impartial and independent. The Amended Law, in line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, places a continuing duty on the arbitrators to remain impartial and independent throughout the arbitral proceedings and imposes a duty on the arbitrators to disclose any such circumstances that may cause their impartiality or independence to be impaired.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Under the Amended Law, the application for the disqualification of an arbitrator by a party must be based on serious grounds. In addition, the procedures for requesting an arbitrator to be recused have been amended. Under the previous law, a request challenging the impartiality and independence of an arbitrator was to be submitted to the court of appeal; however, under the regime, the same request must now be submitted to the arbitral tribunal itself, which, in turn, must refer the request along with the challenged arbitrator’s response to the court of appeal if the challenged arbitrator does not recuse himself.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In line with the UNCITRAL Model Law, the Amended Law contains a special provision with regards to placing an obligation on the arbitral tribunal to act fairly and impartially and ensure that parties have an equal opportunity to present their case. The arbitral tribunal must also avoid any unjustified delay or unnecessary expenses in order to resolve the dispute in a timely manner \"<em>for the sake of achieving a fair and urgent means for dispute resolution.</em>\"</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the arbitral tribunal’s fees, the Amended Law introduced a new provision regarding the fees of the arbitral tribunal. Pursuant to such a provision, and in absence of an agreement between the disputing parties and the arbitral tribunal on the fees, the arbitral tribunal shall determine its own fees and order the disputing parties to each pay their share equally. A very important, yet lopsided addition under the Amended Law lies in a clause granting the arbitral tribunal the right to order the compliant party to pay the defaulting party’s share of the arbitral tribunal fees in events where a disputing party defaults in paying their share of the tribunal fees or any expenses of arbitration. Any decision issued by the arbitral tribunal concerning its fees may now be challenged through an appeal before the court of appeal within (15) days from the date of notification of the parties of the same.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Arbitral Proceedings</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law now allows Jordanian lawyers to \"<em>engage any non-Jordanian lawyer or any other professional and experienced person, if the contract subject matter of the dispute referred to arbitration is subject to the provisions of a foreign law.</em>\" Such an addition on the recourse to foreign legal counsel, as well as other relevant professionals to instances where the contract at issue in an arbitration is governed by the provisions of a foreign law, and by a means of assistance to the Jordanian lawyer, is favorable. It is regrettable, however, that the Amended Law did not make any provisions as to permitting non-Jordanian representation in arbitral proceedings where the underlying contract is governed by Jordanian law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law reconfirmed that Arabic shall be the default language applicable to the arbitral proceedings unless the parties agree otherwise. The arbitral tribunal is also entrusted with the power to determine the application of another language.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">It is also worth noting that the Amended Law now allows the parties, at any time during the arbitral proceedings, to submit additional evidence to support their claim/defense unless the arbitral tribunal disapproves such submission. This new addition to the Amended Law was not provided for under the previous regime as the parties were only allowed to amend their grounds of defense and their final requests but were not permitted to submit any additional evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also introduces major and welcomed changes to the means through which arbitration hearings and proceedings can now be conducted. Under the Amended Law, the arbitral tribunal is granted greater leeway in holding the hearings in a manner the tribunal sees fit so long as the hearings and the meetings can be documented in writing. The Amended Law introduced various provisions recognizing contemporary means of communication as it now permitted the arbitral tribunal to use any new method of communication to conduct any arbitration procedure, including the use of different telecommunication technological methods, such as videoconferencing for the purpose of hearing witness testimony. Such cost and time effective measures will undoubtedly contribute to the efficiency of the proceedings.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also reiterated the acceptance of affidavits, i.e., sworn statements of testimony, as evidence in arbitral proceedings. However, the Amended Law provided that should the opponent wish to cross examine the witness and the latter fails to appear before the arbitral tribunal, the entire affidavit must be ruled out as evidence.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for experts, the Amended Law sets new conditions for the admission of expert reports where any of the parties to the arbitration submits such reports with their documentary evidence. For the expert report to be admissible under the Amended Law, the submitting party must disclose the expert appointment letter, the scope of work/assignment of the expert, and the fees that were paid to them. It is mandatory, under the Amended Law, to call the expert for questioning at the request of a party or should the tribunal so decide. As for the appointment of the expert, the Amended Law introduces an option for the appointment of a juristic person (company) as an expert as opposed to solely an individual as was the case under the previous regime.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Interim and Conservatory Measures</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where either party wishes to apply for interim or conservatory measures, the Amended Law, like the previous law, allows the arbitrating parties to do so prior to the commencement of arbitral proceedings or during such proceedings in accordance with the relevant articles of the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures No. (24) for the year 1988 provides that a claimant may apply to the judge of summary proceedings for a motion to attach and/or freeze property of the defendant party as a precautionary measure either prior to the filing of the substantive lawsuit or along with it. Where the motion is made prior to filing the substantive lawsuit, the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures stipulates that the substantive lawsuit must be filed within a period of eight (8) days after procuring the decision to attach/freeze the properties of the defendant, otherwise any or all (where applicable) attached properties will be released.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">For the purpose of upholding the attachment of property after the (8) day period, the Amended Law now considers a notice to appoint an arbitrator served by the claimant upon the respondent along with the appointed arbitrator’s written confirmation of acceptance to be sufficient as a time barring event for the running of the (8) day period mentioned under the Jordanian Law of Civil Procedures. Such a trigger event to the confirmation of the attachment may cause some practical challenges as often the appointment of an arbitrator comes at a later stage in the proceedings, after the request for arbitration. In some urgent cases, the need to sustain the attachment would have to occur prior to the appointment of an arbitrator. Also, in some instances, the power to appoint an arbitrator, and depending on the agreement among the parties, lies outside of the parties, through for example an appointing authority.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>The Award</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As for the time limit within which the arbitral tribunal must render its final award, the previous regime provides that such time limit shall start to run from the date of the commencement of the arbitral proceedings until the lapse of a twelve (12) month period. The extension provided for was for only another six (6) months. The Amended Law provides for the same period; however, the time limit shall start to run from the date of the constitution of the arbitral tribunal. The arbitral tribunal may in any event extend the time limit for a period of twelve (12) months or as otherwise agreed by the parties.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">In relation to the final arbitration award, the Amended Law provides that the final award must be issued unanimously or by a majority decision. In the absence of a majority, the parties may agree that the award be made by the president of the arbitral tribunal alone. If the parties do not agree as to how the award will be issued when a majority is not reached the arbitral proceedings shall cease and terminate.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Where any part of the claim was acknowledged by the opponent, the claimant may procure a final award for the acknowledged part of the claim. This provision was not provided for under the previous law.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">While the Amended Law did not introduce significant changes to the interpretation and correction of the final award, it provides that the explanatory award and the corrected award must be presented to the court before which a party files for a set aside action. The Amended Law also provides for the possibility to submit the correction or interpretation application to the court of appeal in the event that it is not possible for the arbitral tribunal to convene for making that correction or interpretation. Also, with regards to any additional awards made by the arbitral tribunal in connection with any missed part of the claim, the additional award shall take the form of an addendum and shall constitute part of the award. The additional award must also be submitted to court where a party files for a set aside action.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Award Set Aside and Enforcement</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law introduces a major significant change with regards to set aside actions. Under the previous regime, a set aside action could only be submitted to the court of appeal and its decision to set aside could be appealed before the cassation court. However, in the event that the court of appeal dismissed the set aside action and decided to uphold the arbitration award, such a decision could not be appealed against. The Amended Law stipulates that the only competent court for the purpose of filing a set aside action is now the cassation court, thereby reducing the stages of appeal to only one in the event that the cassation court rules to set aside the arbitration award. Therefore, should the cassation court rule to set aside the award, neither party further may appeal the decision. This is in contrast to the previous law under which there were two steps to an appeal since a set aside order by the court of appeal was subject to appeal before the cassation court.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">Previously, the arbitration law provided that a decision to set aside an arbitration award would consequently render the arbitration agreement nullified as it results in litigation unless both parties agree on further arbitration. The Amended Law however provides that a decision to set aside an arbitration award does not affect the arbitration agreement unless such an agreement was in itself null void. This consequently means that the disputing parties, in the event an arbitration award is set aside, must resort again to arbitration as a method of dispute resolution.</p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">The Amended Law also transferred the role of examining enforcement applications to the sole jurisdiction of the cassation court as opposed to the court of appeal as was the case under the previous law. The Amended Law has withdrawn a party’s right to appeal the court’s decision rejecting enforcement due to incorrect service of summons or due to impossibility of enforcement when the award itself contravenes with public order.</p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><strong>Conclusion</strong></p>\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\">As part of Jordan’s efforts to stimulate its economy and attract foreign investments, the Amended Law provides a comprehensive reform to the legislative framework of arbitration in Jordan. It undoubtedly provides a more modern and secure means of dispute resolution through arbitration in line with most internationally recognised arbitration guidelines and practices. With the Amended Law, arbitrating in Jordan is expected to gain new traction.</p>\r\n <img class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-8043\" src=\"http://www.tamimi.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-6.31.28-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"3994\" height=\"1378\" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p dir=\"LTR\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>For further information please contact Sara Koleilat-Aranjo (s.aranjo@tamimi.com) or Dana Al Shawa (d.alshawwa@tamimi.com).</em></p>'),
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