Updating more than 40 laws to support the economic and social system in the country during 2021
Khalifa bin Zayed adopts the largest legislative changes in the history of the country
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His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, has approved the largest project to develop federal legislation and laws in the country, with the aim of strengthening the economic environment and the investment and commercial infrastructure in the country, in addition to supporting the security and stability of society, and preserving the rights of individuals and institutions alike, in an integrated package. Of laws and their amendments, keep pace with the renaissance and aspirations of the state.
The changes came in the fiftieth year, to include more than 40 laws, as the UAE government aims from these amendments to make qualitative legal changes, in line with the vision of its leadership and the aspirations of its society, and at the same time, it meets the aspirations of pivotal and diverse sectors, and enhances the status of the state, its competitiveness and its position on the map of the future. .
The amendments include the development of a legislative structure that includes laws related to the investment, commercial and industrial sectors, the laws of commercial companies, the regulation and protection of industrial property, copyright, trademarks, the commercial register, electronic transactions and trust services, factoring, the law on entry and residence of foreigners, and the law on unified general rules of work. In addition to the laws related to society and the security of its members, such as the Crimes and Penalties Law, the Anti-Rumours and Cybercrime Law, and the Combating Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances.
The amendments to the Law on Electronic Transactions and Trust Services aim to enhance confidence among individuals and institutions, keep pace with technological development and encourage comprehensive digital transformation. The Law of “Electronic Transactions and Trust Services” raises the legal value of the digital signature, to be supported by modern and secure technologies, and with complete legal authority, so that the digital signature is accepted. The level of acceptance of manual signature, in a way that obviates the need for personal attendance to complete transactions in institutions, banks and courts, whether from inside or outside the country, so that people inside and outside the country can complete their various government transactions such as contracts, agreements and other transactions, using the digital signature, provided that These countries will adopt a digital identity system and trust services similar to the country's standards.
The Law on Electronic Transactions and Trust Services enhances the facilitation of licensing processes based on new services that support digital transactions, to allow many civil and commercial transactions, such as marriage transactions, personal status, notary public transactions, and real estate transactions such as renting, buying, selling and contract modification, as well as increasing the effectiveness of judicial procedures, and resolving civil disputes. accepting the deposit or submission of documents, creating or maintaining them in the form of electronic records, issuing permissions, licenses or approvals in the form of electronic records, accepting fees or any other payments in electronic form, placing bids and receiving tenders related to government procurement electronically.
industrial property
Among the laws that have been amended are the Law of Regulation and Protection of Industrial Property, in order to develop the intellectual property climate in the country, as a cornerstone for achieving economic, social and civilized progress, through the legal protection it provides for the production of human creative thought, and the protection of innovations and inventions of individuals and companies, thus stimulating Economy growth.
The amendments focused on creating new areas of protection and achieving speed, flexibility and effectiveness factors in the formal and objective examination processes, procedures and registration services for all industrial property applications, which include: patents, utility certificates, diagrams, industrial designs, and integrated circuits, which are important in Stimulating and protecting electronic innovations and inventions, and protecting undisclosed information.
The new procedures focused on shortening the period taken to issue the result of the patent examination to six months, starting from the receipt of the application, compared to 42 months in the past, in line with the five best practices of the most prominent patent offices in the world.
These amendments aim to contribute to increasing the number of granted patents or utility certificates by ensuring the transfer of applications and reducing the procedural steps to obtain the result without the need to re-apply, as was the case in the previous law, and to divide and restore applications, to provide a flexible environment for managing and implementing the process of receiving, examining, recording and granting applications .
Copyright
As for the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Law, which was also amended with the aim of strengthening protection mechanisms for intellectual works and creative production in various fields, and stimulating investment in creative industries and intellectual, artistic and creative production, it now allows authorities to copy published works, distribute them and make them available in ways that guarantee access to the blind and people of determination. Those who have vision challenges, with the aim of enabling them to read these works and publications, without the need to obtain the consent of the right owner, the publisher or the author, while setting the necessary standards and controls, which enhances the opportunities for this category to participate in the cultural life of the community and enjoy the arts, and the state is considered one of the first countries that gave this exception.
This is in addition to the creation of a committee to look into grievances against the decisions of the Ministry of Economy related to copyright, and before submitting them to the court, with the aim of accelerating litigation procedures within a short period, and protecting the author from any infringement of his rights.
Trademarks
The Trademarks Law is one of the laws that have been amended, and one of the most prominent amendments to it is the expansion of the scope of trademark protection, to include the protection of non-traditional marks, including three-dimensional marks, holograms, sound marks such as musical tones associated with the company that distinguish its products, and smell marks, such as Creating a distinctive scent for the company or brand, and this is not meant for perfumes, in order to keep pace with global developments in the brand industry.
The updates include adding a new field that is concerned with registering geographical names for trademarks and for products whose name is associated with the names of specific geographical regions, countries or cities, and are famous for producing this product, in order to enhance the country’s position in promoting services and products that characterize it, such as date products and agricultural crops.
Among the changes are also the abolition of the requirement of having a trade license to allow the registration of a trademark, and natural persons, in addition to legal entities (companies), can register and protect trademarks. The amendments also included giving an opportunity to owners of small and emerging companies with temporary protection to protect the trademark of their products during their participation in exhibitions.
Commercial Register
Among the laws that have been amended is the Commercial Registry Law. The most prominent of these amendments is that the local authorities in each emirate retain the powers to establish and manage their commercial records, including registration, data monitoring and change, and a clearer scope of application of the law has been defined, to include the registration of companies and economic institutions in all their forms. Whether commercial (companies) or professional, such as law firms, accountants, and others, to ensure the comprehensiveness of the data contained in the commercial registry for all economic establishments in the country.
To ensure transparency, the law in its new form defined the competent authority in the local government authority and the authorities of the free zones competent to issue licenses for economic activities, which include commercial, industrial, tourism, media and other economic activities licensed in the state, to ensure the monitoring of data for all economic establishments in the state, including its free zones.
The law also defined the economic registry in its new form, which is a database that is established with the Ministry of Economy, which includes commercial registry data, which is provided by the competent authority, in addition to other data specified in the executive regulations of the law, to enhance its database with information that contributes to conducting more comprehensive studies of the economy. What supports the decision-making process and charting the optimal economic trends in the country.
The establishment of the economic registry and registration in it will not entail any additional procedures for the dealers, as the companies will continue to register their data in the commercial registry as currently applied, but it will activate the process of linking between the Ministry of Economy and the local authorities, to be automatically registered in the economic registry.
The law also directed the ministry and the competent authority to complete the procedures for simultaneous linking between the commercial registry and the economic registry, which ensures the automation of data exchange between the two registries, and its immediate updating.
commercial companies
The Commercial Companies Law witnessed a radical revision that was announced in August 2020, when a fundamental amendment was made to its provisions according to which 100% free foreign ownership was allowed in all economic sectors, with the exception of a number of limited economic activities with a strategic impact. New amendments were made to the law by introducing new forms for privately regulated commercial companies, including Special Purpose Companies (SPV) and companies established for the purpose of acquisition or merger (SPAC), establishing a legal framework for these new legal forms, regulating their work and ensuring their effectiveness and economic feasibility, Enhancing its growth and its impact on the business environment.
SPVs are established for several purposes, the most important of which is separating the obligations and assets associated with a particular financing process from the obligations and assets of the person who founded and sponsored it, and is used primarily in credit, borrowing, securitization and bond issuance, and the transfer of risks associated with insurance, reinsurance and derivative operations. The amendments to the law included facilitating the conditions and controls for the transformation of companies into public joint stock companies, in order to ensure the success of their transformation and the sustainability of their development and growth, as well as determining the nominal value of the share according to the value specified in the company’s articles of association and the controls for splitting the nominal value of its shares, and the creation of articles concerned with the division of companies and determining the types and mechanism of division .
Amended provisions have also been introduced with regard to the founders’ contribution to the capital for public joint stock companies, the mechanisms of public offering in the capital markets and classes of shares, the formation of boards of directors and the nationality of members. The Council, the ease of transfer between legal forms of companies, and allowing branches of foreign companies licensed in the state to transform into commercial companies with UAE citizenship.
The law granted broader powers to local authorities to enforce its provisions in coordination with the Ministry of Economy.
Higher Education Law
The law aims to regulate the licensing of higher education institutions of all kinds in the country, approve their programs, ensure effective governance and management of higher education institutions, improve the quality and competitiveness of higher education in the country, and encourage scientific research in educational institutions.
Its provisions apply to all institutions of higher education in the country, with the exception of those operating in free zones.
The law assigned the Ministry of Education the terms of reference for institutional licensing and program accreditation for higher education institutions in the country, evaluation of the performance of higher education institutions and the quality of their outputs, development and support of scientific research activities in the country, as well as terms of reference for withdrawing and canceling institutional licensing and program accreditation, stopping the higher education institution, and imposing other administrative penalties. and take the necessary measures to preserve the rights of students.
The law required the establishment of a higher education institution in the country to fulfill the requirements of the competent local authorities.
The law prohibits the higher education institution from promoting or advertising any study program, accepting students or starting studies in it, before obtaining program accreditation from the Ministry of Education.
Crimes and penalties
The law reorganizes the “Crimes and Penalties” law, which will enter into force as of January 2, whereby the law punishes with imprisonment, a fine, or one of the two penalties for anyone who engages in an activity related to alcoholic beverages without a license, or in violation of the terms of the license, or the consumption of alcoholic beverages in unauthorized places. causing a disturbance or disturbing the public comfort, or providing or selling to a person under the age of 21 alcoholic beverages.
It stipulates that the criminal case for embezzlement and damage to public money does not expire with the passage of time, and it increases the penalty for anyone who poses a threat to public security or the safety of people or funds.
The law also punishes with life imprisonment for anyone who has intercourse with a female without her consent, imprisonment and a fine of no less than 10 thousand dirhams, or one of the two penalties, whoever indecently indecently assaulted another person, whether male or female, and the penalty shall be imprisonment for a period of no less than (5) five years and not exceeding (20) twenty years, if the act or attempt was accompanied by force or threat.
The law also specified that a criminal case shall not be instituted in cases of sexual intercourse with another person, a man or a woman who has completed 18 years (and over), and was with the consent of both parties, except on the basis of a complaint from the husband or guardian.
The husband or the guardian may waive the complaint, and the waiver entails the expiration of the criminal case or the suspension of the implementation of the specified imprisonment penalty for a period of no less than six months for both parties.
The law stressed the protection of the rights of children born out of wedlock, by providing for a prison sentence of up to two years in the event that the paternity of the newborn child is not acknowledged, and identification papers are not issued.
Penalties were also tightened in all crimes, especially indecent assault crimes if the victim was under 18 years old, or his will was not considered for any reason.
One of the most important provisions introduced by the Crimes and Penalties Law is that it applies to anyone who commits a premeditated murder outside the country against a citizen of the country or participates in this crime.
Anti rumors
The law will enter into force on January 2, 2022, and is one of the first laws in the region to criminalize acts or crimes that take place through the use of information technology, given its seriousness and the consequent harm to the interests of the state and its government agencies.
The law aims to protect society, websites and government data from crimes that are carried out through information technology, protect people’s privacy and their private lives and combat rumors and fraud crimes through information technology means. Private or familial individuals without their consent and in cases other than those authorized by law.
Whoever hacks a website, electronic information system, information network, or information technology means, with the intent of obtaining government data or confidential information related to a financial, commercial, or economic facility, is criminalized, and crimes of electronic beggary and misleading promotion of goods and services, especially medical products, are also criminalized. Counterfeit or unlicensed using technical means.
It also criminalizes the circulation or re-circulation of false or malicious rumors that would harm the public interest, the national economy, public order or public health, and the criminalization of data destruction or disabling programs, data and information on any information system without legal justification.
The law has permitted the court or the Public Prosecution to accept reconciliation with the accused in some electronic crimes. It also permitted, upon conviction of any of the crimes stipulated in the law, to order placing the convict under electronic supervision or monitoring, or forbidding him to use any information network or system. Electronic information, placing it in a treatment or rehabilitation center, closing the violating website, or blocking the violating website.
Personal data protection
The Personal Data Protection Law constitutes an integrated framework to ensure the confidentiality of information and protect the privacy of community members by providing sound governance for optimal data management and protection. to ensure its protection.
The provisions of the law apply to the processing of personal data, whether all or part of it through the means of electronic systems that operate automatically and automatically, inside or outside the country, and it is prohibited to process personal data without the consent of its owner, except for some cases in which the processing is necessary to protect The public interest, or the processing is related to the personal data that has become available and known to everyone by an act of the data subject, or the processing is necessary for the establishment or defense of any of the procedures for claiming or defending rights and legal claims or related to judicial or security procedures.
The law also defines the controls for processing personal data and the general obligations of companies and institutions that have personal data about individuals by virtue of their activities, and those working in the field of personal data processing and their obligations to secure personal data and maintain its confidentiality, privacy, and procedures and measures available to them to ensure that data is not breached, destroyed or changed or tampering, personal data breach reporting procedures and situations requiring the appointment and roles of a data protection officer.
As well as the rights of the personal data subject to obtain free of charge information and decisions based on the processing of his personal data, the cases in which the data subject has the right to request correction of his inaccurate personal data and the cases in which he has the right to restrict or stop the processing of his personal data.
The law sets out the controls for the cross-border transfer and sharing of personal data for processing purposes.
Emirates Data
The law establishing the Emirates Data Office comes in light of government efforts aimed at ensuring the full protection of personal data during all stages of dealing with it.
The office, which will be affiliated with the Council of Ministers, is responsible for a wide range of tasks that include proposing and preparing policies, strategies and legislation related to data protection matters, proposing and approving the foundations and standards for monitoring the application of federal legislation regulating data protection, preparing and approving systems for complaints and grievances related to data protection, and issuing the necessary evidence and instructions. To implement data protection legislation.
The office is also responsible for implementing oversight processes on the application of federal legislation regulating data protection, and conducting the necessary investigations, to ensure compliance with these legislation, in addition to receiving and verifying complaints and grievances related to data protection with all competent authorities, and spreading awareness about the provisions and requirements of data protection through organizing Conferences, seminars, workshops, etc.
• Allowing copies of published works and publications to be made available to the blind and people of determination, to enable them to read them without the need to obtain the consent of the right holder.
• Expanding the scope of trademark protection, to include three-dimensional marks, holograms, and sound marks.
• The fiftieth year witnesses the launch of the largest project to harmonize laws with the requirements of life and work, as well as technical and technological developments.
• Raising the legal value of the digital signature to be supported by modern and secure technologies, to be accepted at the level of acceptance of the manual signature.
• Criminalization of hacking websites, networks and electronic systems with the intent of obtaining government data or financial, commercial or economic information.
• Criminalizing the circulation of false or malicious rumors that may harm the public interest or the national economy.
Introducing the law of factoring and transfer of receivables
The law of factoring and transfer of receivables was introduced, with the aim of continuing to develop the legislative environment for the economic and financial sectors in the country, providing them with the necessary ingredients to increase their competitiveness, and enhance their ability to meet current and future requirements, in a way that supports the position of the UAE as a leading economic destination at the regional and global levels.
Factoring is one of the easy financing methods that enable small and medium enterprises to obtain the necessary financing, especially in cases where it is difficult for them to obtain financing by relying on traditional loan tools, where companies can use their financial rights according to what is recorded in their credit books. (i.e. its debts on third parties that are deferred for payment), by selling those rights or providing them as security to a “licensed company” to obtain financing from them.
Here, the “licensed company” provides the financing for the project, and the “remuneration” is the value of those uncollected accounts, minus the equivalent of the interest rate and service fees.
The licensed company shall replace the project as a new creditor, in accordance with the legal provisions guaranteed by law.
540 specialists and experts
The new legislative changes came after local federal coordination, and through work teams comprising 540 specialists and experts from 50 federal and local authorities, and over the past five months, in addition to consulting with more than 100 companies in the private sector, with the aim of keeping pace with best practices in the world, and the latest developments. In the field of technology and modern technologies, to facilitating procedures, accelerating the decision-making mechanism, and empowering all concerned parties in the law.
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