Kuwait: Arbitration & Dispute Resolution

Bahrain has recently enacted Law No. 9 of 2024 concerning the Bahrain International Commercial Court (BICC), establishing it as an independent legal entity under the oversight of the Minister of Justice. This new court is designed to handle a broad range of disputes with a focus on international commercial matters and arbitration-related issues.

For many years, whether disputes based on distribution agreements may be submitted to arbitration was an unsettled matter in Kuwait.

Kuwaiti law permits two contracting parties to select a foreign jurisdiction to govern the terms of their agreement, as well as to hear any disputes that may arise over the agreement. While the law permits courts in Kuwait to issue an order for the execution of judgments rendered in a foreign jurisdiction under limited circumstances, the Kuwaiti courts are generally not in the practice of enforcing foreign judgments.