30-03-2021
The Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration (QICCA) at Qatar Chamber on Wednesday organised the fourth day of its ‘Legal Week’, which ends tomorrow, with a webinar entitled ‘Arbitration Practice Updates in Qatar’.
Speaking during the webinar, Lawyer Claudia Al Hage talked about the Qatari courts’ position in respect of the implementation of arbitration awards, explaining some awards that are newly issued after submitting requests of the implementation or requests and claims for the annulment of arbitration awards.
She also reviewed the position of the Qatar Court of Appeal on these issues, stressing that the implementation or the annulment of the arbitration award is considered one of the most important stages that the arbitration award goes through after the members of the arbitral tribunal end their task.
On his part, Jonathan Parker, from Clyde & Co Law Firm, spoke on the virtual arbitration, pointing out that after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the arbitration process faced many major challenges, including how to hold sessions remotely, especially pleading and hearing sessions, or procedural sessions for arbitration.
He also said that all arbitration centers started to hold arbitration sessions remotely using electronic means to preserve the interests of all parties.
Speakers during the event also included Lawyer Mrs. Pamela MacDonald, from Pinsent Masons Law Firm, who discussed many issues such as the matters related to arbitration and its practice in Qatar and other world countries.
She also reviewed the partnership between the public and private sectors and its relationship to arbitration, as well as the Singapore Mediation Convention and its importance for Qatar as a member country.
Thomas Williams, from Sultan Al-Abdulla & Partners, discussed the reimbursement in the costs of arbitration, indicating that includes a set of fees and expenses that are paid equally by the two parties, but in many cases one of the parties, usually the defendant, may refrain from paying these expenses.
He also noted that in order to streamline the arbitration procedures, the first party must pay not only his share, but also the share of the other party, reviewing how to refund these additional expenses paid by one of the parties on behalf of the other party.
For his part, Mathieu Faupin, from Mubarak Al-Sulaiti Law Firm, focused on the enforcement of the foreign judgment, highlighting the rules applied in the implementation of judgments issued by the judiciary in one country to be implemented in another country, pointing out that the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, known as the New York Convention 1958, gives preference to the implementation of arbitration over the judiciary.
The webinar was moderated by QICCA counselor Dr. Minas Khachtadourian.
