Arbitration for disputes about online reviews.

The parties agree to it in advance by adopting the UORA clause. If a dispute is then filed, it is served and decided in writing, on a fixed timetable, by an independent arbitrator appointed from the UORA roster. If the losing party does not comply, the award is put to the Dubai Courts for ratification and, once ratified, executed there; it can also be taken for recognition in the 170-plus states party to the New York Convention. The whole procedure runs under UAE Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 on Arbitration.

Get the clause File a case

How it works

One prerequisite step and two stages. The full sequence, with the period that applies to each step and what each party receives, is on the procedural page.

The prerequisite and the two stages of a UORA case, what happens at each, and the documents served.
Step	What happens	What is issued
Prerequisite Add the clause	Put the UORA clause in your terms. It adopts the UORA Rules and sets out what an award may order if a review is later disputed. Note: the terms must be signed by hand, not digitally.	What is issued No period runs until a notice is served.
File a case
Stage 1 File a Cure notice	If you believe a review you have received violates the UORA clause, you may issue the Cure Notice, and it is formally served on the reviewer at the contact details in the contract. Most disputes end here.	What is issued Cure Notice and its Certificate of Service.
Stage 2 Arbitrate, or assign	If the review stands, you may choose to either commence the arbitration yourself — an arbitrator is appointed and both sides file in writing — or to assign the claim, and someone else pursues it at their own cost and risk and pays you an agreed share of whatever is recovered.	What is issued Request for Arbitration, Procedural Order No. 1, the Final Arbitral Award in English and Arabic, and the document bundle for court filing with its filing instructions.

Arbitration enforcement case study: it ended in money, and the platform took the review down

The reviewer did not cure and did not take part. The award was made, the Dubai Court of Appeal ratified it under Article 55, an execution file was opened. The reviewer made the payment in full. The award also ordered the review taken down. The reviewer never did it; the online platform did, on request, with the judgment attached.

Award issued
No cure, no defence, no appearance. The arbitrator decided on the documents and made a final award in English and Arabic: take the review down, and pay the damages, the costs and interest.
Ratified
On a petition under Article 55, the First Appellate Case Management Circuit ordered “المصادقة على حكم التحكيم والأمر بتنفيذه” — the award ratified, and its enforcement ordered.
Executory formula issued
The court directed the authorities to execute the instrument “by force if necessary, when so requested”.
Execution opened
A civil execution file was registered against the reviewer in the Fourteenth Execution Circuit, for the judgment, fees and costs.
Paid
The reviewer paid the full amount claimed. The court issued a voucher the same day, status “تم التحويل إلى البنك” — transferred to the claimant’s bank.
Review removed
The award ordered the reviewer to take it down. They did not. Shown the judgment, the platform removed it and confirmed in writing.

Leaving it up is not free of risk. Under Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on Countering Rumours and Cybercrimes, article 53, it is an offence to host illegal content and fail to take it down within the period an order under that law specifies, or to refuse such an order without acceptable excuse.

Dubai Courts case summary for an application to ratify and enforce a final arbitral award under Article 55 of the UAE Arbitration Law. The last decision reads: we order ratification of the arbitral award and order its enforcement. The respondent's name and address, and the case and request numbers, are blacked out. — The ratification, under Article 55.

Dubai Courts executory formula directing the competent authorities to execute the instrument, by force if necessary. Machine-readable codes and the case and request numbers are blacked out. — The executory formula — the order to enforce.

Dubai Courts case summary for a civil execution registered in the Fourteenth Execution Circuit, to execute the judgment in the arbitration petition including fees and costs. The debtor's name and address, and the case and request numbers, are blacked out. — The execution file, opened against the reviewer.

Dubai Courts payments record for the civil execution. A single voucher, transferred to the bank by bank transfer. The beneficiary, the amount, the voucher and case numbers, the claimant's portal login and the debtor's court party number are blacked out. — The payment — the full amount claimed, transferred to the claimant.

An email from Airbnb Community Support to the host, confirming that the review associated with the reservation has been removed. The host company name, the reservation code, the court case number and the closing passage are blacked out. — The review, taken down by the platform.

Disclaimer: nothing about any outcome is guaranteed by UORA.

What it costs

A Cure notice fee, and then either an arbitration fee or an assignment fee.

The fees are read from the platform's fee schedule when this page opens. With scripting turned off, they are on the procedural page.

Fees are non-refundable.

What an award can order

These are the remedies the parties agree to in the clause, at the figures the clause sets. They are not UORA's fees, and UORA does not receive them.

Removal of the review by the party who published it.

Liquidated damages

Where the clause provides for them.

AED 20,000

Costs of the arbitration

What the claimant paid to run it.

AED 2,000

Court fees on enforcement

The fees actually incurred in ratifying the award and executing it, as incurred, ordered against the party who did not comply.

As incurred

Interest

9 per cent

The award is final and binding on both parties, and is issued in English and Arabic.

It is ratifiable by the Dubai Court of Appeal under Article 55 of UAE Federal Law No. 6 of 2018.