How an institution runs a case, from filing to enforcement

A case is a sequence the rules fix

A case does not move freely. The rules set an ordered sequence of steps, each one with a trigger and a deadline, and the institution runs them while a named tribunal decides the merits. The steps below are how a case runs under two rulebooks, the DIAC Rules 2022 in Dubai and the arbitrateAD Rules 2024 in Abu Dhabi, at the article that assigns each step.^1,2

Starting the case: request, fee, answer

A DIAC case starts when the claimant files a Request for Arbitration with the USD 3,000 registration fee (arts 4, 5), and the respondent answers within 30 days (art 5.1). An arbitrateAD case starts with a Request and the AED 10,000 filing fee, which counts towards the administrative fee (arts 6, 49). The case exists once the institution registers the Request; the fee and the deadline are set by the rules, not by the parties.^1,2

Constituting the tribunal

The tribunal is then appointed and the file is transmitted to it (DIAC art 18). Who decides is a matter for the rules: the parties choose within the method the rulebook sets, and the institution appoints where their method does not produce a tribunal. From here the people are fixed, and the sequence is about getting them a decision.¹

Setting the terms and the timetable

At arbitrateAD the tribunal may issue Terms of Reference (art 24) and must hold an initial case management conference within 21 days of the file reaching it (art 25(1)), at which the tribunal and parties must consider putting data protection and cyber security on the agenda (art 25(3)(x)). From that conference the clock runs: the award is due nine months later (art 38(3)). The timetable is a property of the rulebook, started by a step the rulebook names.²

An expedited track shortens the sequence by rule, chosen by the size of the claim rather than by agreement. DIAC expedited applies where AED 1,000,000 or less is in dispute, with the award due in 3 months (arts 32.1, 32.5); arbitrateAD expedited applies at AED 9,000,000 or less (art 36); the ICDR expedited procedures apply where no disclosed claim or counterclaim exceeds US$500,000 (Article 1(4)).^1,2,3

Hearing and deliberation

The hearing itself can be held in person or as a virtual hearing, by telephone or by video (DIAC art 26.1). The tribunal then deliberates and drafts its award. What varies between cases is the evidence and the argument; the shape of the step, and when it has to happen, does not.¹

Scrutiny: the institution checks the draft

Before an award is signed, some institutions review the draft. At DIAC the tribunal sends the award in draft to the DIAC Arbitration Court at least 30 days before the time limit, a step called scrutiny (art 34.5); at arbitrateAD the Court scrutinises the award before it is made (art 40(3)). Scrutiny is an institutional check on form and completeness, run by rule on every award, not a review of the merits.^1,2

The award, and the court behind it

The award issues within the time the rules set. What makes the whole sequence worth running is the step after it: enforcement. A court confirms a domestic award, in the United States within one year under the Federal Arbitration Act section 9, and a foreign award is recognised and enforced under the New York Convention, where a court may refuse only on the narrow grounds in article V (articles IV and V). The institution runs the steps the way it does so the award survives that stage.^4,5

A case is not a free-form process. It is a sequence of steps, each one triggered and timed by the rules, ending in an award a court will enforce.

What the institution does, and what it does not

Across the sequence the institution registers the case, appoints or confirms the tribunal, runs the timetable, holds the fee schedule and scrutinises the draft; the named tribunal decides the merits. That division is the whole point of administering a case on your own rulebook: the rules and the institution prepare and run each step, a named person decides, and the record keeps which was which.¹