Arbitration has become an ideal way to solve commercial disputes away from the court system.
Decree No. 12/84
The Decree specified the system for reviewing lawsuits and arbitration requests before a trade dispute settlement committee. It applies in cases of absence of prior agreement to refer the dispute to arbitration or if the parties agree to refer it to arbitration after the dispute takes place. The decisions are final and not subject to appeal. Likewise, the Decree applies when the opposing parties are Omani entities.
Decree No. 47/97
The Decree deals with arbitration no matter what the relationship between the two parties and local or international nature of arbitration. The referral bases are either a provision or an agreement to settle a dispute through arbitration. The Decree states that the parties should agree on one or more arbitrators. If they do not agree, the number of arbitrators shall be three.
Likewise, the arbitrator shall not be a minor, placed under guardianship, deprived of civil rights due to a court sentence or bankrupt unless reinstated. The arbitrators must apply the rules agreed upon by the parties. If they do not reach an agreement, then the arbitration board may issue a decision on the rules. The decision must be issued during the time frames agreed upon by the two parties. If there is no such agreement, the verdict must be issued with 12 months as of starting the arbitration procedures.
Among the cases in which an arbitration decision is regarded as void are the following:
1.If there is no arbitration agreement, if the arbitration agreement is null or can be invalidated, or if the agreement period elapsed.
2.If one of the parties to the arbitration agreement was, at the time of its conclusion, legally incompetent under the law.
The arbitration decision is enforceable once it is given on a commercial dispute. None of the opposing parties may refer the dispute to the court or another arbitration board. It is obligatory to enforce the decision after ensuring that it does not conflict with a previous court decision on the dispute topic and does not contravene public order and that it was served on the losing party.
Decree No. 36/98
Under this Decree Oman joined the United Nations Agreement on Admitting and Implementing Foreign Arbitration Decisions signed in New York on June 10, 1958