The submission of the grounds of appeal: Divergence between the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Court of Cassation on the interpretation of the Civil Procedure Law

The UAE Civil Procedure Law was recently amended by Federal Decree-Law No. 22 of 2025, issued on 1 October 2025 which came into force on 1 January 2026. The amendments introduced include an amendment to Article 164 of the UAE Civil Procedure Law with respect to the timing of filing the grounds of appeal. That amendment has given rise to an important practical debate regarding the level of details that the grounds of appeal must include at the time of filing the appeal.

Previously, the law allowed appellants to file appeals in the form without having to submit the detailed grounds of appeal at the time of filing the appeal. Appellants were allowed to submit their detailed statement of appeal with their grounds of appeal at the first hearing. The amendment of the Civil Procedure Law by Federal Decree-Law No. 22 of 2025 has introduced a requirement for appellants to file the statement of appeal together with the grounds of appeal on the date of the filing, not as was previously the case, at a later stage when a hearing is scheduled. Failing to meet this requirement, the appeal may be declared inadmissible on procedural grounds.

Following the introduction of this requirement to submit the grounds of appeal at the time of filing the appeal, a divergence emerged between the Dubai Court of Cassation and the Abu Dhabi court of cassation on how detailed the grounds of appeal should be.

The Dubai Court of Cassation’s General Assembly adopted a strict interpretation, requiring that the grounds of appeal must be detailed in the statement of appeal itself, and that broad or formulaic phrases such as error in the application of law or inadequate reasoning are not, in themselves, sufficient. The Dubai Court of Cassation further considered that such deficiency may not be cured in subsequent submissions.

By contrast, the Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation adopted a different approach, considering that the amendment of the Civil Procedure Law relates to the timing of the submission of the grounds of appeal and not the level of details of the grounds of appeal submitted. According to the Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation, the requirement to include the grounds of appeal when filing the appeal does not impose that those grounds be elaborated in detail.

This divergence between the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation affects the arguments and grounds for challenge that should be pleaded at the time of filling appeals and may have an impact on appellants wishing to file appeals within the legal time limit. 

Until the divergence between the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Court of Cassation is addressed, the practical recommendation remains that the grounds of appeal should be as detailed as possible at the time of filing the appeal to mitigate procedural risk.

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