New Investment and Trade Court to boost Oman's business environment

Muscat: The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) has reaffirmed that the establishment of the new Investment and Trade Court to boost Oman's business environment will provide a stable environment for wooing foreign investment and also cope with the contemporary legal challenges.

While helping in maintaining sustainable economic growth of the country, the SJC reaffirmed that the ICC has been created within the keenness of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik for initiation of laws to attract investment and for the development of the commerce sector in the Sultanate of Oman.

The court is expected to meet the aspirations and targets of Oman Vision 2040 and will receive continued care of the judiciary service in further cementing the pillars of justice and the sovereignty of the law in Oman, the SJC added.

The Supreme Judicial Council stated that the court is concerned with the review of all cases to which one party is a merchant or related to the merchant’s business.

It is also concerned with disputes arising from the investment contracts including the disputes arising between the partners or the shareholders or between them and the company as the case may be in trading companies including the public joint stock companies, the shares of which are offered for trading.

The court is also concerned with the disputes related to the commercial assets ; the cases related to foreign capital investment , the economic activity, the cases related to banks, securities of finance , investment and insurance companies with the exception to the damages resulting from car accidents and case related to bankruptcy or the requests for arbitration, the cases related to patents, trade secrets, industrial models and other intellectual property rights, the cases of protection of competitiveness and monopoly practices and combating of practices harmful to national products, the cases related to online commercial transactions and the cases related to partnership contracts between the government sector and the private sector.

The SJC also pointed out that article (2) of the said Royal Decree stated that the courts shall continue with the review of the cases, orders and requests, which by virtue of the law annexed to the decree, have become within the prerogatives of the court, once such cases are filed prior to the date of implementation of the provisions on this law at the time article ( 5) of the decree stated that it shall take effect from 1 October 2025.

The court is hoped to mitigate the pressure on the courts due to the presence of the professional and specialised cadre in the court, the SJC added.