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DIAC and LCIA reach an agreement : LCIA will administer DIFC-LCIA cases from London

  • Team VS ROBIN
  • Mar 30, 2022
  • 3 min read

Updated: Apr 12, 2022


LCIA DIAC Agreement VS Robin Law Offices


Dubai International Arbitration Centre (“DIAC”) and the London Court of International Arbitration (“LCIA“) on 29 March 2022 jointly announced that the ‘existing cases’ will be administered by LCIA from London[1]. The ‘existing cases’ means all cases commenced and registered by the DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre (“DIFC-LCIA”) under a designated case number on or before 20 March 2022.


The announcement came as a great relief for VS Robin Law Offices as it gave the much needed clarity on the administration of arbitrations we are pursuing under DIFC-LCIA Rules.

Earlier, by Decree No. 34 of 2021[2] (“the Decree”) the Rule of Dubai had abolished the DIFC-LCIA and the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre (“EMAC”), effective from 20 September 2021 (“Effective Date”).


The decree and abolition of DIFC-LCIA took everyone by surprise as DIFC-LCIA had been poising itself to be one of the top arbitration centres in Asia and had released its new rules effective from 1 January 2021.


The Decree had provided for the transfer of the assets of DIFC-LCIA to DIAC and administration of existing arbitrations by DIAC. All relevant authorities including DIAC and the DIFC-LCIA) were granted time till 20 March 2022 (i.e. six months from the Effective Date) to comply with its terms of the Decree. Accordingly, DIAC released DIAC Arbitration Rules 2022[3] (“DIAC Rules, 2022”) on 2 March 2022.


With the release of DIAC Rules, 2022, DIAC will be administering the new arbitrations commenced on or after 21 March 2022 under DIFC-LCIA arbitration agreement. However not many updates have been forthcoming from DIAC with regard to administration of the arbitration cases commenced on or before 20 March 2022.


Confusion existed, particularly in view of the DIFC press release on 7 October 2021[4] which stated that the arbitrations commenced on or before 20 September 2021 will continue to be administered by the DIFC-LCIA, and unless otherwise agreed by the parties the arbitrations registered after 20 September 2021 will be administered by DIAC.


This has now been clarified with the latest agreement between DIAC and LCIA and the subsequent press release on 29 March 2022. The press release also clarified that the DIAC and the LCIA have agreed for a mechanism for the orderly management of funds paid by parties into bank accounts previously held on behalf of DIFC-LCIA and now owned by DIAC. According to the press release, the DIAC shall transfer such casework related payments to the LCIA to be disbursed to the respective beneficiaries by the LCIA directly.


The press release also stated that the LCIA will communicate with parties and tribunals as soon as practicable and that all enquiries regarding cases commenced and formally registered on or before 20 March 2022 should be emailed to: DIFC-LCIAcasework@lcia.org


Accordingly, the partners of VS Robin Law Offices have also received communications from LCIA informing that “the transition of these cases from DIAC to the LCIA may take some time.”


Key Points:

  • There shall be a seamless transfer of administration of arbitration from DIFC-LCIA to LCIA or DIFC-LCIA.

  • All arbitrations commenced and registered by the DIFC-LCIA under a designated case number on or before 20 March 2022 shall be administered by LCIA from London.

  • All arbitrations referring to the respective rules of the DIFC-LCIA (including ad hoc proceedings) commenced on or after 21 March 2022 (or commenced before 21 March 2022 but not registered by the DIFC-LCIA under a designated case number) shall be registered and administered by DIAC under DIAC Rules, 2022.

  • Enquiries regarding cases to be administered by LCIA shall be emailed to DIFC-LCIAcasework@lcia.org. All enquiries regarding cases to be administered by DIAC shall be emailed to ArbitrationCentre@DIAC.ae

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