Electronic Judicial Litigation Procedures Before the UAE Civil Courts: An Analytical Study

This paper addresses the legal regulation of Electronic Judicial Litigation (i.e. e-Litigation) before UAE Civil Courts, focusing on recent developments introduced by the UAE legislator in the field of litigation via modern electronic means of communication, under the provisions of the new Civil Procedures Act No. 42 of 2022. In this sense, this research paper will adopt an analytical approach, focusing on the adequacy of those new legal provisions concerning the regulation of litigation procedures electronically. Hence, this study will address the following topics in detail: the nature and formation of e-Litigation; the initiation of this type of litigation via electronic legal notices; as well as the stages of discovery, adjudication, and final ruling that is done electronically. On this basis, the paper concludes on a number of results and puts forward some recommendations, especially with regard to the amendment of Article 44 of the Civil Procedures Act, concerning the required data in the submitted Statement of Claim for both the plaintiff and the defendant. Finally, the analysis of the courts’ practice indicates that it is desirable to have an additional provision added to the current legal provisions stipulating the commitment to all litigation guarantees, also in cases involving the traditional judiciary in the field of e-Litigation.