Abu Dhabi

  New court On 10 November 2020, His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department issued Resolution No. 35 of 2020 (the “Resolution”). Article 1 of the Resolution states that: “A Court is to be established in the city […]

Background The Executive Regulations to the UAE Civil Procedures Law that came into effect in early 2019 amended the right of persons to appeal to seizure orders limiting the right to only the distrainee (the debtor whom the order is issued against). Prior to this amendment, the distrainee, the judgment creditor, and any concerned person

Amongst the flurry of expectations and predictions on the application of force majeure arguments in light of the employment terminations currently occurring globally, whether related or unrelated to COVID-19, a panel of judges in the Primary Circuit of the Rental Disputes Center of Dubai ruled that termination of employment fulfills the requirements of a force

  An announcement took place on 23 November 2020 that foreign investors can have complete ownership of Emirati companies that are governed by the Federal Commercial Companies Law (“CCL”) otherwise known as “on-shore” companies. The concession is limited to limited liability companies and private joint stock companies, including those owned by a single shareholder. The

Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) compliance obligations for multinational entity groups (MNCs or multinational companies) were introduced in the UAE in mid-2019 via Cabinet Resolution No. 32 of 2019, where the first notification and reporting deadline was set for 31 December 2019. There is no shortage of industry experts in the UAE to have assisted MNCs with

In comparison with general dispute practices, tax disputes are subject to a limited number of judges; three judges at the tax dispute resolution committees (TDRCs), one judge at the Tax Disputes Circuit of the Federal Primary Court, one judge at the Tax Disputes Circuit of the Federal Appeals Court, and the Chief Justice at the

  During the Summer of 2020, the Supreme Court ruled on the validity and priority of ‘hidden’ agreements over fictitious (sham) contracts. A similar case was brought to the Supreme Court earlier in 2015 but was not addressed on merits and was rejected procedurally. The Dubai Cassation Court looked at similar cases in relation to

Scene You are a services or goods provider registered as a taxpayer with the Federal Tax Authority. You are facing liquidity and cash flow difficulties. You have customers; you have issued tax invoices, but your invoices are unpaid. In consequence, due to liquidity issues, you are late in paying your due taxes. A few weeks

  Since around September 2020, the tax dispute resolution committee of the Emirate of Dubai has been inoperable (under reformation). Objections that have been filed since then with the Dubai tax dispute resolution committee had not been decided on. On 25 November 2020, the UAE Minister of Justice issued Ministerial Decree No. 691/2020 on the

With the disruption to global business and trade due to the Coronavirus pandemic, parties may look to argue hardship events under the law to alleviate extraneous obligations (such as an extraneous increase of cost in concluding the obligation). Hardship events are occurrences that result in changing the equilibrium of a contract creating an extreme burden