Originally from The Practitioner’s Guide to Arbitration in the Middle East and North Africa

A. Arbitration Laws

1. Please identify by title and date the principal laws and regulations governing (i) domestic and (ii) international arbitration in your State.

The Qatari Legislature has not adopted a special law on arbitration. The legal provisions pertaining to arbitration remain part of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law No. 13 of 1990 (Procedures Law),
specifically, set out in Articles 190-210.

In principle, the Procedures Law does not distinguish between local and international legislation, and does not specify a special definition or detail distinct procedures for each of the two. The arbitration provisions regulate, in general, the terms of the arbitration agreement (and recognise it), the arbitration procedures, the relationship between the arbitral tribunal and national courts, the rendering of arbitral awards, the methods for objecting thereto, the grounds for annulment of the arbitral award and the execution procedures. However, the procedures for execution of arbitral awards differ based on whether the award was issued in Qatar or abroad. In the latter case the implementation of the arbitral awards is subject to Articles 379-383 of the Procedures Law.

2. Please provide an electronic link (i) to an English language translation of the laws and regulations identified in Question 1 above and (ii) to the Arabic text.

The electronic site of the Higher Judicial Council in Qatar contains a copy of the Procedures Law in Arabic and is available at http://www.sjc.gov.qa/arabic/intro.html. As far as we know, there is no official translation of the Procedures Law, and there is no site that publishes a copy of the Procedures Law in English. However, there is a private company that has translated certain Qatari laws into English, including the Procedures Law. The English translation is not an official translation and not precise. We can provide you with a hard copy thereof at your request.