Does Qatar Need to Reform Its Arbitration Law and to Adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law for Arbitration? A Comparative Analysis

Globalisation and enhanced international commercial activity has heightened the need for nations to provide strong and protective laws and safeguards for both individuals and commercial entities.Arbitration is becoming a popular method for nations to solve international commercial disputes, and thus, the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration was established to provide consistency, transparency and reliability for countries whose arbitration laws might otherwise differ.Many countries, including Australia and various Arab nations, have adopted and reflected these rules in their own legislations. Such implementation makes these countries internationally competitive and relatively safe for foreign investors.In this paper, the author examines some of the existing arbitration provisions and highlights the major deficiencies in the Qatari arbitration law. Whilst Qatar does not have an arbitration code per se, the author find that the Qatari arbitration provision lacks clarity and direction with respect to major arbitration issues, such as the writing requirement of the arbitration agreement, the legal capacity of the parties and the autonomy of the arbitration agreement.It is fundamentally important that Qatar reform its commercial legislation with respect to arbitration in line with the international standards. Qatar should adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration with relevant amendments to suit the Qatari context.It is to be noted that the UN “General Assembly recommends that all States give favourable consideration to the enactment of the revised Articles of the Model Law, or the revised Model law on international Commercial Arbitration of the UNCITRAL , when they enact or revise their laws, in view of the desirability of uniformity of the law of arbitral procedures and the specific needs of International Commercial Arbitration practice