Financial Services: United Arab Emirates
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a) what role the enforceability of UK court judgments plays in the Government’s assessment of financial services cooperation and market access discussions with the United Arab Emirates; and b) whether the non-enforcement to date of the High Court judgment in Njord Partners SMA-Seal LP & ors v Astir Maritime & ors [2024] has been raised in that context.
Answered by Lucy Rigby
HM Treasury takes a range of factors into account when discussing financial services cooperation and market access with overseas jurisdictions, including the regulatory framework in those jurisdictions and the competitiveness of the UK market. HM Treasury has not discussed with the UAE in that context the High Court judgment in Njord Partners SMA-Seal LP & ors v Astir Maritime & ors [2024].
Civil and commercial judgments from courts in the UK may be enforceable in other countries if permitted by the domestic law of the country concerned. Additionally, by joining the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention, the Government took an important step in strengthening the UK’s framework for the recognition and enforcement of such judgments.
The Convention entered into force for the UK on 1 July 2025 and may provide greater certainty, reduced costs and quicker resolution in relevant cross‑border disputes. Being Party to the Convention offers a clearer route to the enforcement of in-scope UK civil judgments, including those based on fraud, in other Contracting Parties.
The UAE is not Party to the 2019 Hague Convention. Whether a particular UK civil judgment is enforceable in the UAE is therefore determined by UAE domestic law.
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