Dubai Courts mandate Authorized Expert Reports for IP & Liquidation Claims

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Aanchal Agarwal

Published on: September 15, 2021, at 15:03 IST

The Dubai Court issued Circular No, 9/2021 which mandated filling of an authorized expert’s prepared report while submitting a statement for acceptance of the claim of Intellectual Property, Liquidation or Construction.

The Court directed that the Circular authorises the Case Management Office to reject any claim of Construction, Liquidation or Intellectual Property if it is not supported with an authorised expert’s report.

These authorized experts need to be registered with the Centre for Amicable Settlement of Disputes which is affiliated with the Dubai Courts and is established under Dubai Law No. 16/2009.

The reason behind the requirement of these reports along with the claim request is the complex nature of these claims related to construction, liquidation and intellectual property.

The presence of such expert reports would help in the preparation of these claims and would also assist in speedy trial proceedings.

There are no restrictions mentioned in the Circular regarding reports being developed jointly by authorized experts and third-party or experts from other jurisdictions (such as the DIFC or other Emirates such as Abu Dhabi or otherwise).

The circular’s language is diverse and applies to all Court’s circuits mainly the Dubai Appeals and Cassation Courts.

This type of expert report would also increase the time required for preparation and lodging of a claim before the respective Court.

Time bars for civil and commercial suits generally are between two to fifteen years which in turn grants litigants sufficient time to prepare.

Dubai Primary Court’s judgment must be appealed before the Dubai Appeals Court within thirty calendar days while Dubai Cassation Court’s reviewing of a Dubai Appeals Court judgment must take place within sixty days of notification of the judgment.

As the circular is unclear if it is regarding Dubai Primary Court only or not, it would be prudent for current Petitioners to account for the potential necessity of preparing an expert report by an authorized expert before trying their dispute before a higher level of court.

In the cases of urgent matters of freezing Orders earlier, the Judge granted an injunction against the liquidation of the performance guarantee/s, subject to a substantial claim being filed with the trial court within eight calendar days.

Under the new condition, since the Petitioner is required to file an expert report also failing to which the case can be dismissed, there is a huge risk of the period of eight days getting expired.

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