Al Tamimi & Company has won an appeal on behalf of its client, DNB Bank, setting a precedent for the potential enforcement of foreign court judgements throughout the UAE using the DIFC Courts as a conduit. 

In the decision, issued on Feb. 25, the DIFC Court of Appeal confirmed that parties may seek the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in the DIFC Courts, and then take the resulting DIFC Court judgments to the Dubai Courts for enforcement throughout the UAE.

Tarek Shrayh and Robert Karrar-Lewsley, senior counsel at Al Tamimi, represented DNB Bank in the case.

“Until now, it has generally been accepted that foreign court judgments are difficult if not impossible to enforce in the UAE, particularly in the absence of a treaty obligation,” said Shrayh in a statement. “This decision challenges that assumption and opens the door to the use of the DIFC Courts as a conduit jurisdiction for the enforcement of foreign court judgments throughout the country. The other courts of the UAE are legally bound to enforce DIFC Court judgments, so the response from the authorities to this decision will determine whether this gateway to enforcement remains open. For now, parties based in the UAE may feel more exposed to foreign court proceedings as a result of this decision.”