The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has now recognized Saudi Arabia as a jurisdiction that has adopted an arbitration law based on the 2006 UNCITRAL Model Arbitration Law. During a December MEPI-funded regional arbitration conference run by CLDP, a delegation of Saudi judges presented case law on the interpretation of Sharia in the context of arbitration and clarified that Sharia would not impact the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards any more than the public policy exception that is allowed for enforcement refusal under the New York Convention; this discussion prompted. As a result of these discussions, and further consultations, UNCITRAL decided to add Saudi Arabia to its map of countries.
