Since Decree No. 34 of 2021 folded Dubai's arbitration bodies into a single institution and the 2022 Rules reset its procedure, the Dubai International Arbitration Centre has become the default forum for cross-border disputes seated in the Emirate. This is a working guide to what changed, and how to draft for it.
The reshaping: Decree No. 34 of 2021
On 20 September 2021, Dubai enacted Decree No. 34 of 2021 concerning the Dubai International Arbitration Centre. In a single instrument it consolidated the Emirate's fragmented arbitration architecture: the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre and the DIFC Arbitration Institute — the body that administered the DIFC-LCIA — were abolished, and DIAC was designated to succeed them in all their rights and obligations. Overnight, Dubai went from several competing centres to one.
The Decree's most debated feature is its treatment of legacy clauses. It provides that agreements referring disputes to the abolished centres remain valid, but that DIAC replaces those centres as administrator unless the parties agree otherwise. For the many contracts carrying a DIFC-LCIA clause, this meant the named institution no longer existed to administer the case — a discontinuity that drew international criticism on New York Convention grounds, since parties had bargained for a specific institution and set of rules. Later decisions of the DIFC Courts have, in practice, upheld the continued enforceability of such agreements, treating DIAC as the substitute administrator. The prudent course, however, is not to rely on transitional goodwill: parties holding legacy DIFC-LCIA clauses should re-paper them into a clean DIAC clause where the relationship still matters.
The 2022 Rules: what actually changed
The DIAC Arbitration Rules 2022 came into force on 21 March 2022, replacing the 2007 Rules and bringing DIAC into line with modern institutional practice. Several features deserve close attention.
The default seat is now the DIFC. Under Article 20.1, where the parties have not agreed a seat, the initial seat of the arbitration is the Dubai International Financial Centre — a common-law jurisdiction with its own arbitration law and supervisory courts — rather than onshore Dubai as under the old rules. The tribunal retains power to fix a different seat after hearing the parties, but silence now routes a dispute into the DIFC's curial regime by default. This is a material drafting point: parties who genuinely want an onshore Dubai seat must say so expressly.
Silence in a DIAC clause no longer means onshore Dubai. Article 20.1 makes the DIFC the default seat — a deliberate choice of curial law, not a formality.
A new Arbitration Court sits at the centre of administration. The Rules establish an Arbitration Court as DIAC's decision-making organ, taking over functions that elsewhere fall to a secretariat or an ICC-style court: it rules on consolidation before a tribunal is constituted, decides applications for joinder, handles arbitrator confirmation and challenges, and conducts a review of draft awards. That review is a "soft" scrutiny — a check on formal completeness and compliance rather than the substantive editing associated with the ICC — but it introduces an institutional quality filter that the 2007 Rules lacked.
Speed, scale and urgency
- Expedited proceedings (Article 32). These apply automatically where the amount in dispute does not exceed AED 1,000,000 (roughly USD 272,000), and are also available by written agreement or in cases of exceptional urgency. A sole arbitrator is typically appointed, and the final award is to be issued within three months of the file's transmission. Parties may contract out of the regime, or move the threshold up or down.
- Consolidation (Article 8) and joinder (Article 9). The Rules equip DIAC to manage multi-contract and multi-party disputes: related arbitrations arising from the same or compatible agreements can be consolidated, and additional parties joined, subject to the Arbitration Court's assessment and the tribunal's own view on conflicts and procedural fairness.
- Emergency arbitrator (Appendix II). A party needing urgent interim relief before the tribunal is constituted may apply for an emergency arbitrator, whom DIAC aims to appoint on a very short timetable — in practice within about a day of a valid application — bringing DIAC into line with the LCIA and ICC on pre-constitution relief.
Costs, interest and funding
The costs regime was modernised. Under Article 36, recoverable costs expressly include the fees and expenses of the parties' legal representatives — a meaningful shift, since legal-cost recovery had been uncertain under prior UAE practice — alongside tribunal and administrative fees. The tribunal may award interest, and the Rules address the disclosure of third-party funding so that funding arrangements do not silently compromise arbitrator independence.
DIAC against the ICC and the LCIA
For a party choosing an institution, the practical trade-offs matter more than prestige. The ICC offers the most rigorous product: genuine scrutiny of awards by its Court, deep enforceability track record, and correspondingly higher administrative cost and a more deliberate timetable. The LCIA is leaner and often more economical, with light-touch administration, hourly-rate arbitrator fees rather than ad valorem, and strong appeal to parties who value flexibility. DIAC now sits between the two on administration and generally undercuts both on cost, with the decisive advantage of being the home institution for a DIFC or onshore Dubai seat — which shortens the distance to local enforcement and supervisory support.
In short: choose the ICC where the stakes justify maximal procedural assurance and award scrutiny; the LCIA where cost discipline and a London-centred, flexible process are priorities; and DIAC where the dispute, the assets, or the counterparty are anchored in the UAE and a Dubai or DIFC seat is the natural fit.
Drafting a clean DIAC clause
A robust clause fixes the variables the Rules would otherwise supply by default. Specify: (1) reference to DIAC and its Rules; (2) the seat — state it expressly, whether DIFC or onshore Dubai, rather than relying on Article 20.1; (3) the number of arbitrators (one or three, sized to the likely value and complexity); (4) the language of the arbitration; and (5) the governing law of the contract, kept conceptually distinct from the seat. A workable form: "Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this contract shall be finally resolved by arbitration under the DIAC Arbitration Rules by [one/three] arbitrator(s). The seat of the arbitration shall be [the DIFC / Dubai, UAE]. The language shall be English. This contract is governed by the law of [ ]."
The recurring pitfalls are pathological or stale clauses: agreements still naming the DIFC-LCIA or the abolished centres; clauses that confuse seat with venue; hybrid drafting that names one institution's rules but another's courts; and silence on seat that now delivers the DIFC by operation of Article 20.1 whether or not the parties intended it. Each of these invites a jurisdictional skirmish before the merits are ever reached — and each is avoidable at the drafting stage.
Instruments referred to: Dubai Decree No. 34 of 2021 concerning the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (in force 20 September 2021); DIAC Arbitration Rules 2022 (in force 21 March 2022), including Article 8 (consolidation), Article 9 (joinder), Article 20.1 (seat), Article 32 (expedited proceedings), Article 36 (costs) and Appendix II (emergency arbitrator). This page is general information, not legal advice.