Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA), in partnership with the National Competitiveness Center (NCC), and with the support of the Saudi Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Commerce, has been appointed as the official representative of Saudi Arabia to the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) legal database, the Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts (CLOUT) system, and a member of the recently inaugurated CLOUT Steering Committee. With this appointment, Saudi Arabia is the only Arab country on this committee, which has members representing 12 countries from around the world. The SCCA's work on the committee will parallel its efforts to start publishing Saudi judgments related to arbitration and mediation on CLOUT. CLOUT is an international platform for the dissemination of information on court judgments and arbitral awards based on UNCITRAL conventions and model laws. Its purpose is to facilitate the uniform interpretation of UNCITRAL texts by reference to international standards consistent with the international nature of these legal texts. CLOUT presents case law on the texts of UN conventions and laws, in particular the UN Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (also called the New York Convention of 1958), the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, and other texts. Since its establishment, CLOUT has published more than 1,661 abstracts of court judgments and arbitral awards in 65 jurisdictions, 447 of which relate to the UNCITRAL Model Law. Commenting on this occasion, Walid bin Sulaiman Abanumay, Chairman of the SCCA Board of Directors, said that Saudi Arabia's presence in the CLOUT database increases the transparency and confidence in its judicial system. The publication of Saudi judicial rulings related to commercial arbitration and mediation will illuminate Saudi judicial precedents in the arbitration industry and enhance the predictability and effectiveness of the enforcement of arbitral awards. That, in turn, will enhance the Saudi investment environment and attract more local and foreign investment. Dr. Abanumay added that SCCA, as the country's official representative in arbitration locally and internationally, will play an essential role in this endeavor by selecting relevant judicial rulings in cooperation with the Saudi Ministry of Justice, then translating and publishing them on CLOUT. This will help carry out the country's role in the international dissemination of its judicial rulings related to commercial arbitration. It also fits into the SCCA's efforts at the international level to publicize the quantum leap Saudi Arabia is undergoing at the legislative, judicial, and executive levels, and government support.
