Federal Decree-Law No. 51/2023 Promulgating the Financial Reorganisation and Bankruptcy Law (the Bankruptcy Law) introduced a new bankruptcy regime in the UAE, but left a number of key issues to be addressed under later implementing regulations. These regulations have now been issued under Cabinet Decision No. 94/2024 On the Implementing Regulation of the Financial Restructuring and Bankruptcy Law (the Implementing Regulations) ...
Climate change is affecting the world, and its impact is notably most seen in the rise in sea levels and flooding from major weather systems, as evident in the recent events in Florida in the US. These changes directly threaten oceanfront communities and the local real estate market. Oceanfront properties, once considered prime real estate, are now facing significant devaluation globally due to the encroaching threat of rising waters ...
The UAE Federal Government has issued Cabinet Decision 98 of 2024 (2024 Cabinet Decision) and has, as a result, substantially revised the application of the UAE economic substance reporting requirements. The present economic substance requirements were first introduced through Cabinet Decision 57 of 2020 (the2020 Cabinet Decision) ...
The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has introduced the DIFC Prescribed Company Regulations 2024 (the 2024 Regulations), replacing the DIFC Prescribed Company Regulations 2019 (as amended in 2020 and 2022) (together theFormer Regulations). The 2024 Regulations came into effect on 15 July 2024 and expand the range of applicants eligible to incorporate a so called “prescribed company” in the DIFC ...
On 29 July 2024, the UAE enacted Federal Decree Law 9 of 2024 (theAmendment) introducing some significant changes to Federal Decree Law 33 of 2021 (theLabour Law), UAE’s principal legislation on employment. The Amendment replaces Article 54 of the Labour Law pertaining to individual labour disputes, and, Article 60 of the same law which sets out the penalties applicable for certain violations by employers. The Amendment comes into force on 31 August 2024 ...
The UAE recently amended its legal framework on abortion to expand the circumstances under which abortions are permitted and ease the rules regarding the circumstances under which abortions are permissible. Cabinet Decision No. 44/2024 (the Decision) came into effect on 21 June 2024 and progressively changed UAE’s law on abortion ...
With the first UAE corporate tax registration deadline looming (31 May 2024), companies and other businesses need to ensure that they have checked their deadline to register as a taxable person.The registration process under the Federal Law No. (47) 2022 (CT Law) is still new to the UAE and 2024 marks the first mandatory year for companies to register with the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) as a taxable person ...
Over a period of less than 24 hours on the 16thof April, the United Arab Emirates experienced its heaviest rainfall since records began 75 years ago, with sources recording a years’ worth of rain falling in one day. The record-breaking rains created destructive flooding and chaos. Properties in the UAE were under attack by natural elements – rain, wind and flood. Many suffered from severe flooding, rising groundwater, and water through the walls and windows as well as through roofs ...
When TS Eliot wrote in 1922 that “April is the cruellest month” he likely never envisaged extreme weather of the proportions experienced in the UAE on the 16th of April 2024 ...
Early last week, the UAE experienced its most severe rainfall in the past 75 years. A large number of homes and business premises across the UAE suffered damage from the effects of the rain or floods, including the many motor vehicles that were stalled or otherwise impaired ...
Introduction Following the issuance of Consultation Paper 3 of 2023 and the consultation process that followed, on 2 October 2023 the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) enacted the DLT Foundations Regulations 2023 (theRegulations), aimed at providing a regulatory framework for the creation and operation of specialised foundations for distributed ledger technology (DLT) and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAO) ...
in the past week, guidance has been provided by both the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) regarding deadlines for Corporate Tax registration.The new deadlines have the potential to significantly reduce the time left for meeting the deadlines for Corporate Tax registration. For example, certain applicable taxable persons will be required to submit the Corporate Tax registration applications by 31 May 2024 in order to avoid a violation and the applicable penalties ...
The Commission for the Unification of Federal and Local Judicial Principles (the “Commission”) recently issued a number of decisions aimed at harmonising certain “judicial principles”. Since the doctrine of stare decisis is not followed in the UAE, there have been instances of incongruities in the application of law by the UAE courts ...
Ownership of shares by companies usually results in tax being payable for dividends received or capital gains realised upon sale. However, in the UAE, the Corporate Tax law (Federal Decree No. 47 of 2022) ("CT Law") provides an exemption to Corporate Tax in a certain scenario referred to as the Participation Exemption. Article 23 of the CT Law states: "Participation Exemption" 1 ...
Article 319(1) of the UAE Civil Procedure Law authorises an execution judge to imprison a debtor who fails to satisfy a judgment debt, unless the debtor is able to prove that he is insolvent. Although the text of Article 319(1) places the burden of proving insolvency on the judgment debtor, this appears to have been reversed following a decision of the General Assembly of the Dubai Court of Cassation issued in October 2023 ...
The UAE’s arbitration landscape continues to evolve and, as 2023 draws to a close, we summarise some of the more significant judgments issued by the UAE on-shore Courts in relation to arbitration this year. While the trend of the judgments reinforces the ‘arbitration-friendly’ approach of the UAE Courts of late, 2023 has not been without its outlier cases ...
As expected, the new Maritime Law significantly improves the maritime landscape in the UAE, and will no doubt seal the UAE as a shipping-hub in the region. On the precautionary arrest of a vessel front, the new law requires the applicant seeking an arrest of the vessel to provide security to cover the expenses of the crew, and to maintain the vessel ...
Under the employment law that was previously in force in the UAE, employers were not permitted to terminate an employee’s employment (even with notice) absent a “legitimate reason” and if “the reason for such termination has no connection with work”. In other words, the concept of termination “at will” was not recognised as an enforceable right in the context of an employer-employee relationship ...
Article 54 of the Labour Law (Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2023 on the regulations of labour relations, as amended) dealing with employment disputes has been amended to give greater powers to the Ministry of Human Resource and Emiratisation (the Ministry). The amended provision shall come into effect from 1 January 2024 ...
A survey* published by the Dubai Statistics Center has called for input from the public in what appears to be research relating to the application of 'Common Law' in all free zones in Dubai. The survey is not about the use of 'Common Law' in a general sense. Instead, the Dubai government is focused on integrating DIFC laws and giving jurisdiction to the DIFC Courts for overseeing civil and commercial disputes within the free zones ...
The DIFC Courts have recently confirmed that Decision Notices issued by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) are not binding on the Court as findings of fact ...
The UAE recently enacted Federal Decree Law 15 of 2023 (theAmendment) making certain changes to the provisions of the law governing arbitration, Federal Law 6 of 2018 (theArbitration Law). These changes are consistent with the UAE’s forward-looking approach to arbitration. Some of the key amendments are highlighted below ...
The new commercial transactions law (Federal Decree Law 50/2022), which abrogated Federal Law 18/1993, has significantly reduced the period of limitation for initiating action relating to commercial transactions between ‘merchants’ from ten years to five years. Application of the new commercial transactions law The new commercial transactions law applies to merchants and all forms of commercial activities ...
The UAE Cabinet recently issued Cabinet Decision 66 of 2023 (the Executive Regulations) concerning the executive regulations of the Federal Law 15 of 2020 on Consumer Protection (Consumer Protection Law). The Executive Regulations shall come into effect on 14 October 2023 ...
UAE companies can offer significant tax benefits when used as holding companies in certain scenarios. As an example, assume that an Italian limited liability company (“ItalianCo”) holds a 90% stake in a Moroccan operating subsidiary (“MoroccanCo”) and does not have a permanent establishment in Morocco ...
