ABSTRACT
The Arbitration Act of 1983 is relatively brief and ambiguous in lacks detail with respect to key issues of arbitration proceedings. Most of the ambiguous issues were ironed out in the Implementing Rules of 1985. The Implementing Rules are elaborate and highly influential for both arbitral tribunals and judicial bodies overseeing the arbitral process in Saudi Arabia. Public policy is of great importance to arbitration, especially when it comes to the enforcement of an arbitral award, irrespective of whether it is domestic or foreign. The Riyadh Convention came into effect in order to replace the old Arab League Convention of 1952 in a way that mixed the spirit of the New York Convention of 1958 with Shari'a principles. The Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, hereinafter New York Convention, came into effect to overcome some of the impracticalities of the Geneva Convention of 1927 and to make the enforcement and recognition of foreign arbitral awards easier.
