About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

13 Digital Evidence & Elec. Signature L. Rev. 97 (2016)
Challenges of Authentication and Certification of E-Awards in Dubai and before the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts: The Electronic Signature

handle is hein.journals/digiteeslr13 and id is 97 raw text is: This article evaluates whether an electronic signature is sufficient to fulfil the authentication requirement stated under the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York, 1958) (NYC) article IV(1)(a) before the Dubai and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) courts. Dubai is one of the few countries with two jurisdictions in one country. The party who is seeking the enforcement of the award in Dubai may enforce it before the Dubai or the DIFC courts, so the purpose of the comparison is to discuss whether the winning party may benefit from the DIFC. To achieve the objective of the study, this paper evaluates the ability to exclusively rely on secured electronic signatures to fulfil the requirement stated under article IV(1)(a), and to generally consider the validity of the electronic signature in the Dubai and DIFC courts. Introduction The enforcement of the arbitral award is the final and the most important step in arbitration procedures. Upon completion, the winning party will seek to enforce the arbitral award, otherwise the whole process of arbitration is nullified. The final award is recognised and enforced equally as a court judgment, but the importance of arbitration is that its enforceability is easier at the international level than court decisions, due to the international treaties and conventions entrenching the enforcement and recognition of the arbitral award. The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (NYC) is the most widespread and successful arbitration convention in many jurisdictions. Article Ill of NYC states that the arbitral award shall be considered as binding and enforceable in each contracting state that guarantees the enforcement and recognition of foreign arbitral awards in countries ratifying the Convention. The NYC provides for the recognition of arbitral awards by excluding any review of the merits of foreign awards. On the other hand, it stipulates a number of provisos to be considered during enforcement, such as the duty of the party seeking enforcement to supply the court at the time of application with an authenticated original or duly certified copy of the award and arbitration agreement. This might raise some enforcement issues, as discussed in detail below. One of the most effective and efficient solutions to authenticate the electronic award in online arbitration is the electronic signature, which might be useful in enforcing the arbitral award. However, its application depends on whether the courts in the enforcement country validate and recognise such a process. Consequently, the article begins by explaining the authentication and certification of arbitral award in accordance with the NYC rules. It goes on to explore the differences between authentication and certification, and to identify some issues that might arise such as the governing law, the competent authority and the required documents. These concerns might arise at the enforcement stage, since the NYC is silent toward them, which may mean that different interpretations are possible. These issues will be discussed with special reference to the approach of the Dubai and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts. The second part seeks to clarify the meaning and requirements of the electronic signature, and explains the different types and legislative approaches toward electronic signatures. In respect of the validity of electronic signatures under Dubai and DIFC legislation, the article explores and critically analyses the provisions of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Federal Law 1/2006 on Electronic Transactions and Commerce (ETCL) in Dubai to test the ability to rely on the electronic signature as a valid method to authenticate electronic awards before the Dubai courts. Moreover, the last section examines the validity of the electronic signature before the DIFC courts. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License I 97 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution -NonCom mencial- NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License |197

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most