Part 2 National and Regional Reports, Part 2.2 Asia: Coordinated by Yuko Nishitani and Béligh Elbalti, 39 United Arab Emirates: Emirati Perspectives on the Hague Principles
This chapter presents Emirati perspectives on the Hague Principles. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) are a federal State that was established in 1971. Private international law, civil procedure, and arbitration all are federal matters that are covered by federal laws. Private international law is codified in a section of the UAE Civil Code (Federal Law No 5 of 1985) that deals in Articles 10 to 28 with ‘The application of the law regarding the place’. The section also contains the conflict of law rules applicable to international commercial contracts. The statutory provisions of the Civil Code are, in practical terms, the most important source of law when determining the law applicable to an international contract in the UAE. According to Article 22 of the Civil Code, international treaties, to the extent they apply, override the provisions of municipal law. Moreover, Article 23 of the Civil Code provides that in the absence of any statutory provision, ‘the [general] principles of private international law’ shall apply. This provides the UAE courts with the option to make reference to international standards such as the Hague Principles.