01 Jul, 2026
The Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA) has published a comprehensive study on the state of the arbitration industry in Saudi Arabia, prepared in partnership with the Saudi Competitiveness & Business Center. The study aims to highlight legislative and judicial developments in the arbitration industry in light of international best practices and standards.
The study was commissioned in response to an official invitation from the UNCITRAL Secretariat for SCCA to prepare a country report on the state of the arbitration industry in Saudi Arabia. Prepared by the SCCA on behalf of Saudi Arabia, the report forms part of the forthcoming edition of the UNCITRAL Digest of Case Law on the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (Model Law), a leading reference publication by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) that compiles jurisprudence on the Model Law and promotes its harmonized interpretation and application. This will be the first updated edition of the Digest on the Model Law since 2012.
This initiative forms part of SCCA’s ongoing collaboration with leading international organizations dedicated to advancing dispute resolution and arbitration, with the aim of showcasing arbitration practice in the Kingdom and highlighting the progress made in developing a robust framework for the resolution of commercial disputes.
This comprehensive report constitutes a 250-page comparative legal analysis examining the influence of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Saudi Arabia’s arbitration framework, including both the current Saudi Arbitration Law and the Draft Arbitration Law currently under consideration. It also assesses judicial practice through an analysis of 967 Saudi court judgments related to arbitration. As part of the project, a significant number of these judgments were translated into English to support international research, with a selection subsequently chosen for publication in the United Nations’ Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts (CLOUT) database.
With respect to judicial practice, the study’s analysis of more than 3,300 judgments issued by Saudi Courts of Appeal between 2017 and 2025 revealed that the rate of annulment of arbitral awards in the Kingdom is among the lowest globally, not exceeding 8%, in line with leading jurisdictions considered safe international arbitration hubs. In the same context, annulments based on “violation of Sharia principles and public policy” accounted for only 2% of total annulled awards, reflecting a clear indication of the Saudi judiciary’s supportive stance toward arbitration and its enforcement of arbitral outcomes in commercial sectors.
With respect to the legislative framework, the study highlights a clear structural and procedural alignment with the UNCITRAL Model Law in the Saudi Arbitration Law. The Saudi framework has evolved from drawing inspiration from the Model Law to achieving a more advanced level of harmonization and procedural alignment, striking a balance between international standards, the requirements of domestic legislation, and the specific features of the national legal system. For example, the study underscores the Draft Law’s advancement of arbitration digitalization through the explicit recognition of email and other electronic communication methods as valid means of service. Separately, the Draft Law removes the requirement for Cabinet approval for arbitration clauses in government contracts, thereby enabling government entities to resort to arbitration as an alternative to court litigation in the settlement of public contract disputes.
The publication of the study comes in the context of the Kingdom’s comprehensive transformation of its dispute resolution framework under Saudi Vision 2030, during which more than 2,700 legislative instruments have been enacted, amended, or reviewed over the past seven years, alongside over 970 government reforms. These developments have significantly impacted the arbitration landscape in the Kingdom in general, and SCCA in particular, with reforms beginning to yield tangible results reflected in the increasing volume and diversity of cases administered by SCCA. SCCA’s caseload has grown by double digits over the past five years, averaging 62%, and recorded a 52% year-on-year increase at the end of last year, reaching 182 cases. In addition, more than 210 cases were registered in the first half of the current year, indicating continued and accelerating growth.
Commenting on the study and its findings, SCCA Chairman Dr. Walid Abanumay said that the publication aims to enhance transparency and introduce the international arbitration community to the arbitration legal framework and judicial practice in the Kingdom. He added that the study contributes to improving predictability regarding how the judiciary interprets the Saudi Arbitration Law in practice, while also strengthening legal certainty.
Dr. Abanumay further stated that the Kingdom has achieved advanced progress in building its dispute resolution framework and in its transformation into an international hub for dispute resolution, through legislative efforts aligned with international standards, particularly the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, as well as a supportive judicial system that today has a strong track record in assisting arbitration proceedings and enforcing arbitral awards.
Those interested in reading the study and exploring its findings may access a copy by visiting the link here.
