What a private forum protects, and where the protection stops

A private forum is often described as keeping a family dispute out of public view. UAE and DIFC instruments protect a good deal, and the same instruments mark where that protection ends.

What a private forum protects. Under Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 on Arbitration, Article 33(1), as replaced by Federal Decree-Law No. 15 of 2023, holds arbitration hearings at private meetings unless the parties agree otherwise. Article 48 makes awards themselves confidential: they may not be published in whole or in part without the parties' written approval. Institutional rules layer onto that. Under the DIAC Arbitration Rules 2022, meetings and hearings are held in private unless the tribunal directs or the parties agree otherwise, and persons not involved are not admitted without the tribunal's and the parties' approval; an award may be made public with the parties' consent; and, as a general principle, the parties and the tribunal keep confidential all awards and orders, all materials created for the arbitration, and other parties' documents not otherwise in the public domain.

Mediation and conciliation carry their own protection. Federal Decree-Law No. 40 of 2023 on Mediation and Conciliation in Civil and Commercial Disputes provides that the procedures are confidential, that the mediation or conciliation and the documents and information presented in it may not be invoked before any court, and that those involved may not disclose information received without the consent of all parties, save where the law requires the reporting of a crime. Under the DIAC Mediation Rules 2023, nothing communicated to the mediator in private may be repeated to another party without the express consent of the party making it, and no statement made during the mediation may be used in judicial or arbitration proceedings as evidence of admissions against the party that made it. Dubai Law No. 18 of 2021 makes conciliation sessions confidential, subject to five defined exceptions. The DIFC Courts describe their mediation process as strictly confidential.

Confidentiality also attaches to some statutory committees. The Abu Dhabi announcement of Resolution No. 3 of 2026 describes disciplinary and criminal liability for anyone disclosing information related to the disputes before the committee, the names of the litigants or the company involved.

Where the protection stops. Five boundaries appear in the same instruments.

• Enforcement. Under Article 52 of Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 an award has the force of res judicata, but a court recognition decision must be obtained for enforcement, and Article 55(1) requires the request to be accompanied by the award and the arbitration agreement. The private stage produces the decision; a state court gives it force.
• Settlement documents. Federal Decree-Law No. 40 of 2023 provides that its confidentiality and non-invocation rules do not apply to the settlement agreement's provisions or to the documents necessary to enforce it.
• Challenge. Under Article 53(1) an objection may be made only by an action in nullity or during examination of the request for recognition, which moves the substance into a court file. The DIAC provisions carve out disclosure required to enforce or challenge an award, or a settlement agreement, before a state court.
• Consent. Article 48 permits publication with written approval, and the DIAC rules allow an award to be made public with the parties' consent.
• Judgments. Article 48 states that publication of judicial judgments covering an arbitral award does not violate the confidentiality principle. The DIFC Courts maintain a public register of judgments and orders, searchable by year, in which parties are named and full texts available.

One reading follows. Privacy is a property of the forum and the stage, not of the dispute. A family can hold the deciding stage in a private forum and still find the enforcement or challenge stage on a public file.

The legislation also treats the period before any decision as carrying exposure. Article 19(3) of Federal Decree-Law No. 37 of 2022 allows the emirate committee to take preventive and urgent measures to maintain the continuity of the business and prevent harm to its work, reputation or financial position while the dispute is considered, and the Dubai Government announcement describes the same power for the Dubai tribunal.

Sources, retrieved 11 August 2026: Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 as amended, Federal Decree-Law No. 40 of 2023 and Federal Decree-Law No. 37 of 2022 from UAE government sources; Law No. 18 of 2021 from the Dubai Legislation portal; the DIAC Arbitration Rules 2022 and Mediation Rules 2023; DIFC Courts judgments register and mediation pages; the Abu Dhabi Media Office.

This is educational content, written with law firms. It describes mechanisms and recommends none of them. Nothing here has been verified or endorsed by the programme as appropriate for any particular family, and a family should take its own legal advice on its own facts.