This article, a sequel
to an article of the same title published in the preceding issue of this
Journal, discusses two further recent court rulings, one from a local United
Arab Emirates (UAE) court and the other from a United States (US) court of
appeal, that deal with the question of enforceability of a Dubai International
Financial Centre (DIFC)-London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA)
arbitration clause following the enactment of Decree No. 34/2021. Albeit that
the Decree constitutes a positive source of law from an internal UAE
perspective, defaulting DIFC-LCIA arbitration clauses to a DIAC forum seriously
undermines the concept of party autonomy in arbitration. This raises the
question, broached by the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal in its recent ruling,
of whether arbitration under the DIFC-LCIA Rules may be administered by an
institution other than the DIFC-LCIA following the abolition of the DIFC-LCIA
as a result of the Decree.