The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts today released its figures for the first half of 2024, reporting a strong uptake of services and continued growth in case numbers.
The value of cases across all divisions in the first six months of 2024 was AED 1.05 billion, with a total number of 480 cases filed.
In the main Court of First Instance (CFI), 57 cases were filed, with a total value of AED 1.02 billion and an average case value of AED 39.3 million.
Claims brought before the CFI involved companies across a wide range of sectors, including banking & finance, real estate, construction, manufacturing, retail, intellectual property, and pharmaceutical, and involving disputes related to breach of contract, employment, and outstanding payments.
The Small Claims Tribunal (SCT) saw 265 claims filed, and an overall claim value totalling AED 27.2 million. The average claim value of cases filed at the SCT was AED 109,000. Claims were driven primarily by disputes involving breach of contract, employment, and property & tenancy.
There was also an uptake of additional services offered by the DIFC Courts.
Tejouri, a digital vault service, recorded an over 20% increase in the number of registered digital vaults in the first half of 2024. Meanwhile, the Wills Service registered 810 wills, a 6% increase in the number of registrations compared with the first six months of 2023, and issued nine probate orders.
In a statement, His Excellency Justice Omar Al Mheiri, director of the DIFC Courts, said: “Following a record-year for the DIFC Courts in 2023, we have continued to record strong uptake of core and ancillary services of the DIFC Courts for the first six months of 2024.”
“We have also committed to further research and development of new innovative, efficient and cost-effective mechanisms in 2024 to assist our court users, whilst also maintaining core judicial excellence through our case management and skilled bench of judges,” he said. “As the DIFC reflects on its 20-year anniversary in 2024, the DIFC Courts remains confident that our mandate continues to enable businesses to flourish and people to interact in a stable and predictable environment, supporting federal and local strategic goals.”
The DIFC Courts are English language courts that apply with exclusive jurisdiction in the DIFC, an economic free zone in Dubai. They are independent from, but complementary to, the UAE’s Arabic language civil law system.
In May 2024, the DIFC Courts signed a cooperation agreement with The Law Society of Hong Kong, one of Asia’s leading financial centres, aimed at strengthening ties between the common law institutions.
