Abu Dhabi rebuilt its arbitration offering from the ground up. arbitrateAD replaced the old ADCCAC in 2024 with an international-standard rulebook and a default common-law seat — completing a neat symmetry with Dubai’s DIAC and the DIFC.
From ADCCAC to arbitrateAD
On 1 February 2024 the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre — branded arbitrateAD — replaced the Abu Dhabi Commercial Conciliation and Arbitration Centre (ADCCAC). Its 2024 Rules supersede the ADCCAC 2013 Rules for any arbitration commenced on or after that date, while references already pending remain under the old rules. This was not a rebrand but a reset: a new institution, a new rulebook, and a deliberate bid to position Abu Dhabi as a regional and international dispute-resolution hub.
The ADGM default seat
The defining structural choice mirrors Dubai’s. Under the 2024 Rules, the default seat is the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) unless the parties agree otherwise. ADGM is Abu Dhabi’s common-law free zone: English common law applies, the ADGM Arbitration Regulations 2015 — closely modelled on the UNCITRAL Model Law (2006) — govern the arbitration, and the English-language ADGM Courts supervise it. A party that wants a civil-law, onshore Abu Dhabi seat must therefore say so expressly; silence delivers the common-law offshore forum.
What the 2024 Rules bring
The rulebook is a clean, contemporary instrument aligned with international best practice. Its features track what commercial users now treat as standard:
- Emergency arbitrator and expedited procedure for urgent and lower-value matters.
- Consolidation, joinder and multi-contract mechanisms to gather related disputes into one reference.
- Interim-measures powers, third-party-funding disclosure, tribunal secretaries and remote hearings, reflecting the modern conduct of international arbitration.
- A transparent costs and appointment regime designed for predictability.
Each emirate now pairs a consolidated institution with a common-law offshore seat — DIAC with the DIFC, arbitrateAD with ADGM.
Why the symmetry matters
The result is a tidy, deliberate architecture across the UAE: Dubai offers DIAC defaulting to the DIFC; Abu Dhabi offers arbitrateAD defaulting to ADGM. For a contracting party the practical question becomes not “onshore or offshore?” in the abstract, but which emirate’s ecosystem — proximity to the counterparty, the assets, the regulator or a government-linked entity — best fits the deal. For Abu Dhabi-centred contracts, and especially those involving ADGM-registered or government-linked entities, arbitrateAD with an ADGM seat is now the natural home.
Drafting for arbitrateAD
Adopt the arbitrateAD model clause, name the seat expressly (ADGM or onshore Abu Dhabi), fix the number of arbitrators and the language, and keep the contract’s governing law consistent with the seat. As always, the enforcement target should drive the choice: seat the arbitration where you can most efficiently reach the respondent’s assets. arbitrateAD’s place within the full UAE picture — the three seats and the two institutions — is mapped in the seats and frameworks.
Key instruments: arbitrateAD Arbitration Rules 2024; ADGM Arbitration Regulations 2015; UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. General information, not legal advice.