Local affairs editor
In its next session, the Shura Council will discuss a decree-law regarding the Bahrain International Commercial Court, with the aim of strengthening the Kingdom’s position as a dispute settlement center by selecting parties in commercial matters, and settling disputes in accordance with international best practices in cooperation with international commercial courts of high standing and reputation globally.
Decree Law No. (9) of 2024 regarding the establishment of the Bahrain International Commercial Court stipulates the establishment of the court and the organization of its jurisdictions. It decided its independence and granted it an independent legal personality. It is supervised by the Minister of Justice or the minister in respect of whom a decree is issued. Its powers are exercised by the president of the court, the dispute settlement body, the appeals body, members of the body, and the general registrar, who is appointed by decree of the president of the court, his deputy, and a number of members of the dispute settlement bodies. The affairs of the court are also handled by the court council composed of the president, his deputy, and all Members of the Dispute Resolution Body, where the Council approves the regulations and issues the regulations and decisions necessary for the work of the Court, and appoints the Registrar General, the Executive Director, and the External Auditor.
The second chapter addresses the consideration of the dispute before the court and the appeal of its rulings and decisions, where the court council sets one or more regulations that include the rules, procedures and deadlines related to submitting and managing claims, appointing the dispute settlement body, rules for determining the language and categories of financial compensation determined by the president of the court by decision, provisions for the ruling to include expedited enforcement, a statement of the general provisions in appeals, the permissibility of the parties agreeing not to appeal the ruling and to consider it final and conclusive, and the provisions that require appeal in the event of the ruling being invalid or the procedures affecting the ruling being invalid. With confirmation of the validity of international agreements regarding the Singapore Court being considered the competent authority to hear the appeal in the event that the ruling is issued in the English language, unless the parties agree contrary to this principle that the Appellate Body of the Bahrain International Commercial Court shall be the competent body to hear the appeal.
The Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee of the Shura Council, which discussed the decree-law, indicated that the rulings issued by the competent authority in the Singapore Court do not gain binding force requiring their implementation, except after they are reissued by the Bahrain International Commercial Court, in order to preserve national sovereignty and guarantee the rule of law.
It also affirmed that the court’s jurisdiction does not conflict with the national judicial system, based on the fact that the court’s jurisdiction is vested in the consensus of the parties to an international commercial dispute in accordance with the text of Article (10) of the Decree-Law. It is also limited to two types of disputes: international commercial disputes and disputes related to matters related to arbitration. The Decree-Law does not conflict with the Law on Advocacy, as allowing non-Bahraini lawyers to participate with Bahraini lawyers in representing opponents in disputes that are being examined In the Arabic language, and allowing them to represent opponents in disputes that are heard in a language other than Arabic, is consistent with the general principle stipulated in the Legal Profession Law promulgated by Decree Law No. (26) of 1980, which stipulates a general principle in Article (19) that the legal agency shall be for the citizen lawyer registered in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and an exception to this principle in the same article is the permissibility of licensing foreign legal consultancy offices with specialized international expertise.
