UAE being the most accommodating country for residents coming from all different parts of the world. Considerably, Egyptians hold a significant number of residencies in the country amongst other Arab nationalities residing in the UAE. In order to accommodate multiple nationalities, the country has signed pertinent international agreements with other nations to ensure the smooth flow of judicial cooperation amongst the nations. One such example of international agreement is the Judicial Cooperation Agreement signed between Egypt and UAE in the year 2000. The said agreement is said to manage and govern the process of enforcing and implementing judgments issued by either court in another country. UAE has ratified this agreement under Federal Law number 83 of 2000, whereas, Egypt has published and adopted the agreement by virtue of Presidential Decree 464 of 2000.

Acceptance of Foreign Judgment

The Agreement under its Part V directs the enforcement and recognition of judgment issued by one jurisdiction in another, especially for cases of civil, commercial and family matters. In accordance with Article 26 of this Agreement every one of the parties shall agree and recognize the judgments issued by the other court, thereby allowing the judgments to have the same value and binding nature in both the countries. In line with the foregoing, the Agreement has effect over cases of civil, commercial, family and criminal matters decided in civil courts, however, such judgments shall only be issued by the relevant and competent courts. In addition, it is important that such judgments were issued whilst keeping in mind the international courts rules. It is basic that the arrangements in enforcement and recognition are good with the international settlements and understandings in power with the contracting party.

Non-Acceptance of Foreign Judgment

Even though the Agreement allows the residents of both the countries to enforce and recognise the judgment issued by either country in the other country, there are certain parameters under which the relevant courts of either country will consider prior to issuing an order for enforcement. In such regard, Article 31 of the Agreement lays down the rationales under which the court may refuse to accept the enforcement of the foreign judgment, which are as follows:

• Primarily, the judgment shall not breach or shall oppose the principles of public policy, public order or constitution of the country. For instance, any judgment issued by courts of Egypt, in case hampers or negatively impacts the public order of UAE, such judgment will not be accepted for recognition in the UAE.
• If the judgment set for recognition in the one court was originally issued by the court not fit or not competent to try the matter in the first place.
• If the judgment issued by the relevant court in one jurisdiction was eventually a violation of the law of such a state or was obtained without proper legal representation in that nation.
• In the event the judgment was issued in absence of the other party or was an ex-parte

Under the foregoing circumstances, either court holds the authority to reject the enforcement or recognition of the judgment, yet there are several defences available to the parties, which shall be discussed with Best Lawyers in Dubai, as needed.