The Legal 500

Legal Developments in United Arab Emirates

• New Long Term Residency Visas

  After much media coverage, Cabinet Decision 56 of 2018 (the Decision ) has been gazetted which introduces new long term residency visas to, amongst others, four categories of persons in the UAE. 
  - Afridi & Angell

• Significant Changes to Civil Procedure Code

  Significant changes to Federal Law No 11 of 1992 (the Civil Procedure Code ) will soon be coming into effect. These changes are introduced through regulations (the Regulations ) issued under the Civil Procedure Code and will come into effect on 16 February 2019.
  - Afridi & Angell

• Merger Clearance Matters

  The United Arab Emirates (the UAE ) promulgated legislation to specifically address the regulation of competition (being Federal Law 4 of 2012, or the Competition Law ) several years ago but until recently, it has been the case that the requisite implementing regulations and processes were not in place. This is no longer the case. Not only have the much anticipated implementing regulations been issued, the UAE Ministry of Economy (the Ministry ) (being the regulator in charge of administering the UAE competition regime) has now formed the required committee and issued the anticipated guidance and forms to allow concerned parties to make merger clearance submissions to the Ministry where required to do so pursuant to the Competition Law. 
  - Afridi & Angell

• New Promotion Regime for Domestic Funds

  In late November 2018, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) announced that they had reached agreement on facilitating the licensing of domestic funds by each authority for promotion across the UAE. 
  - Afridi & Angell

• Federal Penal Code Amendments

  In the latest development in an eventful year, Federal Decree-Law 24 of 2018 introduces amendments to the Federal Penal Code, originally enacted as Federal Law 3 of 1987. 
  - Afridi & Angell

• New Anti-Money Laundering Law

  The new anti-money laundering ( AML ) law of the UAE took effect at the end of October 2018. Containing features recommended by the Financial Action Task Force ( FATF ), the new law introduces subtle but important changes to the AML landscape in the UAE. 
  - Afridi & Angell

• Confidentiality Under Renewed Focus

  The UAE federal government has recently issued a raft of important legislation, addressing and in many ways updating areas of law that are key to businesses in the jurisdiction. Amongst this legislation is Federal Decree-Law 14 of 2018 concerning the central bank and the organisation of financial institutions and activities (the New Banking Law ) and Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2018 concerning anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing (the New AML Law ). Both the New Banking Law and the New AML Law repeal and replace the previous legislation on their respective subjects. Importantly, the New Banking Law and the New AML Law have together enhanced the protection afforded to confidential information under UAE law, in particular where financial and legal service providers and their customers and clients are concerned. 
  - Afridi & Angell

• Get 100% Foreign Ownership Today in Dubai

  Freezones have always been the topic of discussion in the U.A.E. Amongst the various benefits, 100% foreign ownership is one of the advantages which is enjoyed the most by investors in these freezone companies. In the below article, our Company Setup Specialist, Neelesh Pillai talks about everything that you need to know about setting up a Freezone branch in Mainland.
  - Fichte & Co Legal Consultancy

• Overview of the Bankruptcy Proceedings and Preventive Measures in the UAE

  Before the approval of the UAE Federal Decree Law No. 9 of 2016 (the “Bankruptcy Law”) by the UAE Cabinet on 4 September 2016, the bankruptcy proceedings were regulated under the Commercial Code and were limited to court-driven proceeding addressed to liquidate companies rather than assist in restructuring their debts. This new law puts some light on the regulation on how companies should deal with their financial issues. In below article, our Associate from the Dispute Resolution department, Ahmed Salih talks about the bankruptcy proceedings and the preventive measures in the UAE. With over 10 years of experience in the UAE and Sudan , Litigator Ahmed Salih specializes in Commercial Law, Corporate Law, Civil Claims, Labour Disputes, Shari'a Law, personal status cases, Real Estate Claims, and Bankruptcy.
  - Fichte & Co Legal Consultancy

• Time-bars, time limits and deadlines for legal cases under UAE law

  Under UAE civil law – like in other civil law systems – not all time-bars are mentioned and dealt with in one particular statue. Our Partner, Alessandro Tricoli , and Senior Associate, Shehab Mamdouh explains the different time bars, time limits and deadlines for legal cases under UAE law.
  - Fichte & Co Legal Consultancy