《阿联酋刑法典》修订第257条规定，解除对阿联酋仲裁员的监禁威胁

阿联酋联邦政府作出的将仲裁员排除在《阿联酋刑法典》第257条适用范围之外的决定受到了国际仲裁界的欢迎。2018年第24号联邦法令已于2018年10月8日生效。

迪拜被视为友好仲裁法域的国家，2016年修订《阿联酋刑法典》第257条时，其形象在国际仲裁界受到质疑。新修订该法第257条将仲裁员纳入个体类别，如果他们在履行职责时未能保持正直和公正，可能会对其实施刑事处罚。

旧法规定

2016年第7号联邦法将《阿联酋刑法》第257条修正为：

作为行政、司法机关委任的或者当事人选定的仲裁员、专家、翻译员、调查员签署决定、给与建议、提交报告、处理案件或证明事件对某人有利或不利时，如果没有秉持正直公正原则，应被判处临时监禁。

禁止该类人士被重新委任从事这类工作，并受本法第二百五十五条规定制约。

实行刑事处罚给仲裁员带来了风险，特别是因为阿联酋刑法中没有对“正直”和“公正”这两个词作出定义。由于阿联酋警察的调查权力范围很广，仲裁员可能会受到处罚，包括在调查过程进行期间没收他们的护照以及临时监禁的风险。刑事处罚的威胁导致一些现任仲裁庭成员辞职，其他受尊敬的仲裁员拒绝在阿联酋担任仲裁员。

此外，还对一些仲裁程序产生了实实在在的消极影响，从而对迪拜作为一个友好仲裁法域的形象产生了影响。正如强势的代理人利用第257条的威胁作为游击战术，扰乱仲裁程序，因为他们认为这样做符合当事人的利益。

新法规定

2018年第24号联邦法令修订了《刑法典》包括第257条的若干条款，该条内容如下：

司法机关或行政机关在民事或刑事案件中任命的任何专家、翻译员或调查员，确认的事项与真实事实相反，明知事实真相而歪曲事实的，应被判处至少1年和最长5年的监禁。

如果上述人员被指派执行与重罪有关的任务，则应处以临时监禁。(Bablex翻译)

虽然已将仲裁员排除在此范围之外，但专家、翻译员和调查员仍然包括在内，虽然其范围似乎更为狭窄，但这一规定将如何解释，以及是否将继续作为仲裁中的游击战术来使用，仍有待观察。

然而，阿联酋仲裁界认为这一最新修正是一项非常积极的举措，特别是在根据《贸易法委员会示范法》制定的新《阿联酋仲裁法》（今年6月生效）之后出台新修订。新的修正案给予仲裁员、执业人员和当事人同样的救济，并使他们对在阿联酋进行仲裁更有信心，而不会因第257条对其仲裁程序造成潜在的不利影响。

【英文部分】

The threat of imprisonment for arbitrators in the UAE has been removed as Article 257 is amended

A decision by the federal government of the UAE to remove arbitrators from the scope of application of Article 257 of the UAE Penal Code has been welcomed by the arbitral community in the UAE and beyond. Federal Decree No. 24 of 2018 came into force on 8 October 2018.

Dubai, seen as an arbitration-friendly jurisdiction, saw a threat to its image when Article 257 was amended in 2016 to include arbitrators in the category of individuals against whom criminal sanctions could be imposed if they failed to maintain integrity and impartiality in the discharge of their duties.

The Previous Law

Federal Law No. 7 of 2016 amended Article 257 of the UAE Penal Code to read:

Any person who issues a decision, givesan opinion, submits a report, addresses a case or proves an incident for the benefit or against a person, failing to maintain the requirements of integrity and impartiality, in his capacity as an arbitrator, expert, translator or investigator, appointed by administrative or judicial authority or selected by parties, shall be sentenced to temporary imprisonment.

Said categories shall be banned from being re-assigned to such tasks, and shall be subject to the provisions of Article 255 of the present Law.

The introduction of criminal sanctions created a risk for arbitrators, particularly because the words ‘integrity’ and ‘impartiality’ are not defined in the UAE criminal law. As the investigatory powers of the UAE Police are wide-ranging, arbitrators risked sanctions including confiscation of their passport and temporary imprisonment whilst an investigation process ran its course. The threat of criminal sanctions led some sitting tribunal members to resign and other respected arbitrators to decline appointments to sit on UAE tribunals.

Moreover, there was a tangible and negative impact on some arbitral proceedings and thus to the image of Dubai asan arbitration-friendly jurisdiction, as machine-gun practitioners used the threat of Article 257 as a guerrilla tactic to disrupt proceedings where they perceived it was in their client’s interests to do so.

The New Law

Federal Decree 24 of 2018 amends several provisions of the Penal Code including Article 257 which now reads:

Any person who, while acting in the capacity of an expert, translator or investigator appointed by a judicial authority in a civil or criminal case, or appointed by an administrative authority, confirms a matter contrary to what is true and misrepresents that matter while knowing the truth about it, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a minimum term of a year and a maximum term of five years.

The punishment shall be temporary imprisonment if the mentioned individuals were assigned to a mandate in relation to a felony. (Bablex translation[1])

Although arbitrators have been removed from the scope, experts and translators and investigators are still included and whilst its ambit appears more narrowly defined, it remains to be seen how this provision will be interpreted and whether it will continue to be used as aguerrilla tactic in the context of arbitration.

However, this latest amendment is seen by the arbitration community in the UAE as a tremendously positive move and it follows on the heels of the new UAE Arbitration Law, based on the UNCITRAL Model Law, which came into force in June of this year after many years of consultation. The new amendment gives relief to arbitrators, practitioners and parties alike and will give them added confidence to arbitrate in the UAE without the potential and harmful effects of Article 257 hanging over their proceedings.

[1] Bablex hold the copyright in this translation and have permitted HSF to use it in this article.

By Caroline Kehoe

                                                                                                           来源：微信公众号 临时仲裁ADA