The Role of Experts before Investment and Trade Court in Qatar
Dispute Resolution / Qatar
Hani Al NaddafPartner, Head of Litigation - Qatar
Prior to the establishment of a specialised court under the name Investment and Trade Court (“ITC”), which was introduced by Law No. 21 of 2021, all disputes in Qatar arising from commercial contracts were resolved by the general civil courts. In May 2022, the ITC was established with the principal objective of accelerating the pace of trade litigation and, consequently, creating an attractive economic environment in order to promote both domestic and foreign investments in Qatar.
A significant change resulting from the introduction of the ITC law involved the adoption of an alternative approach towards the participation of technical experts. Previously, experts were appointed by the court in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Law (Law 13 of 1990). However, the ITC law permits an advanced approach, permitting each of the parties to appoint an expert to prepare a technical report to be submitted to the ITC in order to support the party’s claims. In particular, Article 26 of ITC law provides that:
“Any of the parties to a case may electronically submit an expert report prior to referring the case to the Court.
Any of the parties to a case may submit such report, after the date of return, subject to the approval of the Court . . .”
It should be noted the court will still appoint its own expert, but this expert will only be drawn from the court’s own list.
Often courts are tasked with resolving disputes that turn on complex technical or scientific matters beyond its expertise. The approach of the ITC is beneficial to provide the court with expert opinions on the matter right from the outset and because the expert is not restricted to those persons on a court list, they could comprise persons from the most eminent practitioners in the field. Appointing such an expert may even enhance the chances of winning the case if managed properly by the lawyers. However, there are also benefits from using experts who are listed on the court’s expert list as they already have a reputation with the court and will have experience with communicating their opinions to a court.
A significant change resulting from the introduction of the ITC law involved the adoption of an alternative approach towards the participation of technical experts.
Moreover, appointing an Arabic-speaking expert will assist with explaining technical matters not only to the court but any experts appointed by the court and, as a result, disputes may well be resolved quicker because contentious issues can be narrowed. Additionally, the expert appointed by a party will not be limited to receiving the fee that the court determines is appropriate (which is what occurs with the court-appointed expert). This allows the expert appointed by a party to devote more time and effort to the issues and the evidence allowing them to have a more complete understanding than those appointed only by the court. Experience with the ITC has shown that the ITC is on occasion willing to favour the opinion of a party-appointed expert over the opinion of the court-appointed expert in its judgment, where the party-appointed expert has provided a report that was more informative and was supported by the relevant documents.
Experts are an invaluable tool in the court system in Qatar. They ensure that the courts are provided with the necessary technical knowledge to allow them to adjudicate each individual case. Combining that fact with the fast pace of litigation that the ITC provides, it is helpful to have one’s own expert involved with the case from an early stage, especially where disputes revolve around complex technical issues that one regularly finds in construction, tax, banking and intellectually property disputes, to name but a few.
For further information,please contact Hani Al Naddaf.
Published in January 2025
