Originally from The Practitioner’s Guide to Arbitration in the Middle East and North Africa

A. Arbitration Laws

1. Please identify by title and date the principal laws and regulations governing (i) domestic and (ii) international arbitration in your State.

The Sultanate of Oman (“Oman”) presently has two Royal Decrees that relate to and govern domestic and foreign arbitrations:

a. Royal Decree 47/1997 promulgating the Civil and Commercial Disputes Arbitration Law (Arbitration Law 47/97)

This Law has been amended a number of times. The most recent amendments are by an additional Royal Decree 3/2007 (effective 28 June 2007) by which the Principal Law (47/97) was essentially replaced with the New Decree. This technique of “replacement” is common in the Middle East. Moreover, the new law is not marked up or annotated in regard to the changes. However, for those who may be familiar with the law of 1997, relatively little has been changed by the successive updates.

b. Royal Decree 36/1998 titled “On Accession of the Sultanate to the UN Agreement 1958 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitration Awards” (Foreign Awards Law)

This law was in response to Oman’s joining the New York Convention.

In addition to (a) and (b) above, Article 353 of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law issued by RD 29/02, also applies. Article 353 reads: “The rule set out by the above Article (352) pertaining to enforcement of foreign judgments and orders shall apply to the arbitrator’s award delivered in a foreign country. The arbitrator’s award shall be on a matter which may be arbitrated under Omani Law and is enforceable within the country in which it was delivered.”