Barrister, Outer Temple Chambers, England and Wales and Saudi Arabia

Partner, Covington & Burling LLP, Dubai

It has been said that the laws applicable to disputes arising in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are a black box – complicated, inaccessible, hidden, mysterious. For many years, Saudi Arabia has been home to some of the world’s biggest and most important construction projects. Alongside these projects has come the inevitability of international arbitration over disputes arising from them. While the disputed issues may be generally described as typical in construction law – contractual notice, non-payment, scope variations, limitation of liability, and damages – the applicable law may be counter-intuitive to users who are less familiar with the laws of Saudi Arabia and the applicable Shari’ah principles. It, therefore, becomes important to demystify those laws and principles, particularly as applied to construction arbitration, with a view to enhanced clarity and predictability over construction contract disputes in the Kingdom.

Disputes over construction projects represent a substantial proportion of international arbitration cases worldwide. When the law governing the dispute is familiar to the parties and the arbitral tribunal, the applicable legal principles may be considered as well established, with the main contest being over the disputed facts. When the law is less familiar to the parties