Abu Dhabi

  On 28 April 2021, the UAE Cabinet of Ministers issued Decision No. 49/2021 amending provisions of Cabinet Decision No. 40/2017 regulating tax penalties (the “new Decision”). Important highlights: – Late payment penalties reduced from 1% per day to 4% per month. – 300% cap still applies. – New starting date for calculating late payment […]

  Recently, in a dispute that Wasel & Wasel was counsel on, the Federal Primary Court ruled providing a definition and test for the ‘tax benefit’ penalty for the first time. What is the ‘tax benefit’ penalty? Of the various tax penalties that are applied by the Federal Tax Authority in the United Arab Emirates

  In March 2021, the highest court in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Cassation Court, upheld the denial of the enforceability of an arbitration agreement due to the clause merely stating that arbitration shall be governed by the laws of the United Arab Emirates without explicit scope to any disputes. The Cassation

  Brief Since around September 2020, the tax dispute resolution committee of the Emirate of Dubai has been inoperable (under reformation). On 25 November 2020, the UAE Minister of Justice issued Ministerial Decree No. 691/2020 on the Formation of Tax Dispute Resolution Committees for the Emirate of Dubai. The Emirate of Dubai previously had only

  In a recent judgment, the highest Court in Dubai, the Dubai Cassation Court ruled that incorporating a FIDIC contract (general conditions) by reference into a transaction does not necessarily bind the parties to the arbitration clause therein that FIDIC contract (general conditions). In this judgment, the Dubai Cassation Court also sheds light 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

The ability to influence has been a topic of dialectics for centuries – how the influence was obtained, how it was used, how much of it was at stake. When the topic of influence comes up, we may refer to great writers, composers, or philosophers. But these days the discussion of influence brings about names

  The Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) is based in Switzerland and is considered the elite international dispute resolution forum for legal disputes relating to sports, including commercial disputes (i.e., issues arising from sponsorship agreements or player contracts) and discipline (i.e., doping, non-compliance with codes of conduct). CAS also acts as an appeals court

Over the years, constitutional appeals have been filed before the Constitutional Circuit of the Federal Supreme Court for a plethora of matters, with the first constitutional judgement having been issued on 29 November 1973. Most recently – in rough figures – four constitutional appeals were filed in 2019, two in 2018, one in 2017 and

On 10 August 2020, the Regulatory Tribunal of the Qatar Financial Center issued a decision whereby it recognized COVID-19 as a hardship event in an appeal by a former director (and Senior Executive Function) of a regulated entity against penalties of USD 50,000 for breaches of the AML/CFT and various general regulatory contraventions. The financial