Riyadh, Saudi Arabia— The Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA) has published the 2023 revised SCCA arbitration rules with effect from May 1. The final text was endorsed after extensive review by the SCCA’s board of directors.
The SCCA, in a statement, said the new rules will apply to all arbitrations filed on or after May 1, 2023. This will also set the stage for the SCCA Court becoming fully functional after the launch date and replace the existing SCCA Committee for Administrative Decisions. SCCA announced the formation of the SCCA Court last November.
The new rules are the culmination of over 20 months of continuous institutional work, managed by SCCA in consultation with the SCCA Rules Advisory Committee, which includes 16 international subject-matter experts from various countries and backgrounds.
Subsequently, the text was reviewed by a sub-committee composed of members of SCCA’s Board of Directors and chaired by the Board’s Vice-Chairman, Toby Landau.
The new rules are in conformity with the latest international standards in the arbitration industry and take into account the best practices followed by other eminent arbitral institutions.
One of the highlights is the introduction of the SCCA Court, which will be in charge of making key administrative decisions related to SCCA administered arbitrations.
The SCCA Court includes 15 eminent luminaries in the arbitration industry from 12 countries with decades of arbitration court experience, including international arbitrators, academics, former leaders of arbitral institutions, retired appeal court judges, and high-profile practitioners. Prof. Jan Paulsson has been elected as the SCCA Court’s President with Dr. Ziad Al-Sudairy and James Hosking as the Vice Presidents.
Another important feature of the new rules is the general promotion of use of technology in filing documents but also managing cases. Particularly for smaller claims, technology will now play a key role by embedding the ODR Procedure Rules as an opt-out where the aggregate amount in dispute does not exceed SAR 200,000.
Another area that has seen significant change is the expansion of the Arbitral Tribunal’s discretionary powers such as the determination of the most effective format for hearings (including remote hearings), the ability to reject changes in party representation as a procedural safeguard, the ability to encourage parties to resort to mediation where appropriate, the limitation of length of written statements or requests, and the electronic signing of awards.
At the same time, the new rules add two additional reasons for arbitrator challenges: failure to perform, and manifest lack of party-agreed qualifications.
The new rules also address a number of emerging practices and issues in international arbitration, such as arbitrations multi-party and multi-contract disputes, the need for consolidation or otherwise the coordination of parallel arbitrations, third party funding, the publication of redacted awards absent party objection, and the need for cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection.
In this context, the Chairman of the SCCA Board of Directors, Dr. Walid Abanumay, said: “Today, SCCA starts a new chapter with the launching of its revised SCCA Arbitration Rules. SCCA continues its pioneering approach to advance the arbitration industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region by providing the best international standards and practices and achieving SCCA’s vision that was set from day one to be the preferred ADR choice in the region by 2030.”