Dubai Court of Cassation (General Assembly), Resolution No. 2 of 2021, 9 June 2021
Under Article 62 of the Civil Procedure Regulation (Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018, as amended by Cabinet Resolution No. 33 of 2020), a creditor must use the payment-order procedure, not an ordinary action, where the debt is proved in writing by a document signed by the debtor, is due, and is a fixed sum of money or a specified movable. This covers claims to enforce commercial contracts and on negotiable instruments, even with a request for interest or damages. The procedure is compulsory, but requires a debt free of serious dispute: if the creditor sues in the ordinary way and a serious dispute arises about the debt's existence, maturity or amount, the claim is admissible.
The Technical Office of the Court of Cassation reported conflicting judgments of the commercial chambers on when disputes over the enforcement of commercial contracts must go through the payment-order system in Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018 on the Regulation of the Civil Procedure Law, as amended by Cabinet Resolution No. 33 of 2020. The question was referred to the General Assembly under Article 20(a)(4) of Dubai Law No. 13 of 2016 on the Judicial Authority.
The Assembly held that Article 62 of the Regulation, in force from 17 February 2019 and amended with effect from 1 May 2020, departs from the general rules on bringing a claim: a creditor must use the payment-order route when its debt meets the conditions of that article. The right must be proved in writing, electronically or on paper, by a document bearing the debtor's signature, showing (alone or with other papers signed by the debtor) that it is due; and it must be a sum of money of fixed amount or a movable specified in kind and quantity. A debt counts as fixed even where the debtor disputes the amount, as long as it is calculated on settled bases that leave the court no wide discretion. The same applies to money claims to enforce a commercial contract or by a creditor holding a commercial paper, and asking for interest, compensation or a precautionary measure does not prevent use of the procedure.
The route is compulsory, not optional. But it presupposes a right free of serious dispute. If the creditor files an ordinary action and a serious dispute emerges about the existence, maturity or amount of the debt, the claim is admissible, because that dispute shows that the debt did not meet the payment-order conditions when the claim was filed. The Assembly adopted this view.
Debt recovery in Dubai often turns on whether the claim should have been brought as a payment order. Creditors with signed, liquidated debts risk inadmissibility if they sue in the ordinary way, but debtors who raise a genuine dispute about liability or amount cannot then rely on the payment-order rule to defeat the claim. Decided under the 2018 Civil Procedure Regulation, since replaced by the 2022 Civil Procedure Code.
| Article 62 of Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018 on the Regulation of the Civil Procedure Law, as amended by Cabinet Resolution No. 33 of 2020 Decided under this law; it has been replaced by Civil Procedure Code. |
| Article 20(a)(4) of Dubai Law No. 13 of 2016 on the Judicial Authority in the Emirate of Dubai |
“سلوك طريق أمر الأداء هو طريق إلزامي يتعين اللجوء إليه متى توافرت شروطه”Short quotation from the judgment as published by the court. The full judgment is on the court’s official service.
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