The Permanent Committee of Saudi Arbitration Centers revealed that, in order to obtain a license to establish an “arbitration center”, the applicant must be a public legal person, pay 150,000 riyals, and 10,000 non-refundable fees for studying the application. The financial compensation is 75 thousand riyals.
According to the draft rules (which were reviewed by “Okaz”), the area of the center’s headquarters is not less than 200 square meters, and it must contain, at a minimum, a hall for holding arbitration sessions equipped with all modern technology and attached to it a room for deliberation, offices for the administrative apparatus, and a room for keeping case files, and it is not permissible to change the headquarters Center to any other location except after notifying the Committee.
The draft indicated that the committee studies the license application submitted to it, and decides on it within 60 working days from the date the applicant completes the required documents and papers, and it has the right to take any action to ensure the validity of the documents submitted, and to inspect the center’s establishment to ensure that the conditions are met. After paying the financial fee, the committee grants the applicant an initial approval for a period of 90 working days, and in the event that the 90-day period expires without the center’s headquarters being ready, and the committee does not extend this period, the applicant may submit to the committee again a new application within 180 days. From the date of expiry of the period specified for the readiness of the center, without having to pay the financial fees again.
The rules for licensing work stressed indicators of quality of performance and governance in the center, by publishing the names of registered arbitrators, their qualifications, experience and CVs on the website, and providing equal opportunity for all arbitrators to handle cases, and disclosure when choosing an arbitrator for a certain number of cases in the calendar year according to what Determined by the committee by its decision.
The prospective regulation stated that the license period for the center is 3 renewable years, and the applicant may not practice the business subject of the license application in the Kingdom or present himself as submitting it before he receives the license from the committee, or the committee’s decision is issued approving the renewal of the license. The licensed arbitration center is responsible for managing, organizing and following up the arbitration procedures in disputes whose parties agree to settle them through arbitration. Matters outside the competence of arbitration are not included in the center’s competence.
Prohibitions and licensing criteria
The draft indicated that the licensee must refrain from engaging in any of the practices that constitute a violation of these rules, laws, and regulations in force in the Kingdom, and refrain from dealing with entities that are prohibited to deal with, in accordance with the standards specified by the laws in the Kingdom, as well as entities that practice any of the following: Acts that are criminalized according to the laws in force. Members of the Center, whether they are on the Board of Directors of the Center, the Center of Trustees of the Center, or the executive and administrative staff of the Center, are prohibited from practicing arbitration work in the Center or appearing in any capacity before the arbitral tribunals in the Center, whether as arbitrators, experts, mediators, consultants or lawyers. .
The draft confirmed that the licensee may not assign or dispose of the license in any manner of transferring ownership, except after obtaining the committee’s written approval, provided that the assignee or the disposer of it fulfills all the conditions stipulated in these rules to obtain the license. Or leasing the license to others to practice the business subject of the license, or granting others the right to use the license by any means.
When is the license revoked?
The Committee may revoke the license if the licensee provides the Committee with incorrect data or information, or submits forged papers and documents and the licensee violates the provisions of these rules, and if the licensee becomes prohibited from practicing arbitration business under any system or decision of an official authority in the Kingdom, In the event that the center violates the provisions of these rules, the center’s basic system, or the committee’s decisions, the committee may issue penalties that start with a first warning that includes the violation and a request to correct the violation within 30 days, and a second warning that includes the violation and requires correction within 15 days from the date of this warning, and in the event of failure to correct During the period specified in the second warning, the committee will cancel the license directly.
