Major disputes between national and international companies operating in Bahrain are to be dealt with by the kingdom’s new arbitration chamber rather than its courts.

The move will present lawyers from UK and other non-Bahraini firms with rights of audience in Bahrain – something that Bahraini courts currently prohibit, according to Clive Hopewell, partner and Middle East head at City firm Charles Russell and chair of the British Bahrain Business Forum Lawyers’ Group.

Under new Bahraini laws, commercial and financial disputes worth more than BHD500,000 (£820,000) will automatically be sent to the Bahrain Chamber of Dispute Resolution if one party is authorised by Bahrain’s central bank.

The outcome of the arbitration, and any awards made against companies, cannot be appealed.

Created in conjunction with the American Arbitration Association, the new chamber, launched on Monday, will be known as BCDR-AAA.

Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s justice minister, said that the BCDR-AAA will provide international and national law firms – as well as multinational corporations and governments contracting in the Gulf – with ‘rapid, effective and certain resolution of commercial disputes.’

‘[Bahrain has] enacted cutting-edge legislation that guarantees the independence of the chamber itself and, vitally, the interests of its users,’ he said.