Ultimate Beneficiary Owner (UBO) Declaration
Intending to curb money laundering, financial fraud, tax evasion, and terror finance, the UAE government is taking steps to ensure financial transparency. Many individuals take the advantage of the complex corporate ownership structures and indulge in such activities harming the interests of governments across the world. One important step to curb such activities is recognizing (Read more...)
Women related Laws in The UAE
In the year 2015, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government established a federal entity by the name of Gender Balance Council to develop and implement the gender balance agenda in the country. The council aimed at increasing female participation in decision-making positions. The overall objective was to position the UAE as a model for gender (Read more...)
Laws that Tourists Visiting The UAE Should Know
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) with its exotic shopping malls is a prime attraction point for shoppers. If tourists buy products from a shop participating in the ‘Tax Refund for Tourists Scheme’ they can claim refunds for the Value Added Tax paid on the products. This scheme is only available for individuals leaving the country (Read more...)
Commercial Fraud in the UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) had made the necessary changes to its anti-fraud provision by bringing in Federal Law No. 19 of 2016 to especially deal with commercial fraud cases. This law applies to the entire territory of the UAE along with the free zones across the UAE. Commercial fraud has been defined as an (Read more...)
Passport Retention
Can my Employer Retain my Passport? There have been numerous instances in the past where individuals have complained of their passports being retained by their employers. The vulnerable position of an expatriate worker further deteriorates when the employer takes away his or her passport. Holding of a passport by an employer discourages an individual from (Read more...)
Incorporation of a Company: Mainland Vs FreeZone
The recent amendments to the Commercial Company Law in 2020, allowed 100% foreign ownership for a business established in the mainland UAE. This amendment to the Commercial Company law allows 100% foreign investment without the requirement of having an Emirati as 51% owner for registration of an Onshore Company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). (Read more...)
ADGM issues new data protection rules on Fees and Fines
Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) established in 2013 by the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce, is an international financial center and a free zone, located in Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE. It became fully operational in 2015. ADGM aims to promote Abu Dhabi as a global financial center and an effective contributor to (Read more...)
VAT Regulations in the U.A.E.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) introduced Value Added Tax (VAT) through Federal Law no (8) of 2017, to generate a new source of income to fund the nation’s high quality public services. The new tax was implemented to decrease the nation’s dependence on natural resources like oil and petroleum. VAT is imposed on every value (Read more...)
5 Major Legal Amendments in the UAE
UAE Bankruptcy Law amendment The Cabinet of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has through an amendment in 2020 made an effort to help the businesses facing an Emergency Financial Crisis (EFC) because of the spread of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdowns. The debtors have been exempted temporarily from the obligatory filing of bankruptcy after 30 (Read more...)
UAE Amends Laws Relating to Cheque Bounce
Intending to discourage increasing crimes of bounced cheques, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has, through Federal Decree Law No 14 of 2020, made changes to the provisions of the Commercial Transaction Law of 1993. The amendment decree will come into effect in January 2022. The law has been amended to allow for partial payment (Read more...)
Legal reforms that will further strengthen the UAE
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought many fold challenges to global economy which affected the daily lives of people across the world. The pandemic required a push from our governments to undo the damages and to initiate structural reforms required to strengthen the economies. The government of the United Arab Emirates has recently initiated long awaited (Read more...)
Purchasing Property in Dubai
Foreigners and immigrants account for almost 89% of the population of the United Arab Emirates. It was only recently in 2002 that the foreigners were allowed to buy property in specified areas around the UAE. Through Regulation (3) of 2006, Emirate of Dubai determined the areas where foreign nationals were allowed to acquire ‘Real Property’- (Read more...)
Establishing E-Commerce business in the UAE FreeZone
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is known for its world class malls and state of the art facilities provided in the same. The E-commerce business while already thriving got a big boost during this pandemic when people relied on online platforms for even grocery shopping. Despite having the best shopping malls, many companies in the (Read more...)
Residence Visa in the UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) provides resident visa to an individual and his/her dependents if he/she (1) is employed by a company, (2) is employed in the government sector (3) has invested in a business (4) has a property, in the UAE. Additionally, university sponsored students and elderly foreigners who want to retire and reside (Read more...)
Recent Amendments to the UAE Bankruptcy Law
The post Covid amendments made to the UAE’s Bankruptcy Law of 2016 are a drastic but necessary step to deal with the steep fall in the growth and profits of the companies based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The resulting fall in growth of companies amid the Covid-19 crisis not only affected their profits (Read more...)
Doing Business in United Arab Emirates
The UAE is the major regional hub and the commercial capital for the Middle East. It has one of the most liberal trade regimes in the Gulf. The position of the UAE means it is the centre of traffic between Europe, Africa, and Asia. As a gateway between these regions, the UAE holds the potential (Read more...)
Doing business in Dubai: local partner or on your own?
In this post I want to go into practical detail and answer a series of questions investors ask themselves when they decide to implement a process of internationalization here in the Emirates. Tackling and solving these first questions is fundamental to the success of the whole venture, because building such a project is a bit (Read more...)
Why should you get in touch with a lawyer to start a business?
Starting a business? Get in touch with a layer. Let’s start with a practical situation. After a trip to Dubai, an Italian entrepreneur in the food industry decides to enter the market there, realizing the Emirate offers many opportunities, particularly in light of the upcoming Expo 2020. Now, what can he do to get some (Read more...)
Prevention is better than cure
Also in the law fields is better to prevent. Over the years medicine has taught families the importance of prevention, of taking care of ourselves to stay healthy and avoid illness. Unfortunately, the legal profession has not followed the same example and, even today, it’s common to hear the same opinion of a client I (Read more...)
Why a written contract is important (second part)
.In the last post I dealt with this subject – the importance of the written contract – which could seem banal, but which, on the contrary, is an issue that ought to be clearly put on the table. And so I’ve decided to go into further detail about this in a second article. If in the (Read more...)
Why a written contract is important
If you lose a 2 million dollar project because you forgot to finalize a contract, what can you do? Nothing, I’m afraid. If something like this happens, you can’t react afterwards and hope to fix it. That contract is lost forever. I’m not speaking about a hypothetical case, but of a real occurrence. Here in (Read more...)
The Breitling case: incorporated joint venture in Dubai
Today I want to discuss joint ventures and, in particular, a real case I dealt with a few months ago. But first I think it’s useful to spend some introductory words on what a joint venture is and what forms it can take. The term Joint Venture defines a form of collaboration among enterprises, with (Read more...)
