UAE prepares laws to boost investment

Our laws are quite old and should be revised to cope with the current economic situation and to stand up to the market challenges, UAE Minister of Economy says

Dubai: The Ministry of Economy is putting the final touches to 12 new laws, which are part of a plan to modernise the legislative system and enhance the UAE business environment, in line with the UAE strategic vision for 2021.

During an event held by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Minister of Economy Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri said: "Our laws are quite old and should be revised to cope with the current economic situation and to stand up to the market challenges, according to the fundamentals of justice."

He said the new laws seek to address concerns about commercial regulations and arbitration and to promote efficiency, transparency, and investor confidence in the business sector.

The Competition Law, new Companies Law, Auditors Law, Arbitration Law, Foreign Investment Law, Industry Law, Industrial Ownership, the International Intellectual Property Rights Organisation, Certificate of Origin Law and Anti-Fraud Law are some of the laws that have been drafted to strength the country’s legal infrastructure and boost the economy.

Various other ministries have also been involved in this process, for which the Ministry of Economy is responsible.

The minister added that, despite the fact that the economy has recently seen some challenging times, it appears to be on the road to recovery.

"The UAE has enough reasons to be confident. The trade and economic statistics show that the macro-economic fundamentals remain strong, although there's cautious optimism among the private sector," he said. "The liquidity situation has improved and we expect slow recovery in the next two to three years.

New bad cheque court urges changes in the law

A new Dubai court has been set up to specifically handle cases relating to bad cheques and has led to calls for a change in the law relating to bounced cheques, it was reported on Sunday.

Judge Ahmed Saif, chief justice of the Dubai Criminal Courts, said around 100 bad cheque cases are heard before the weekly court, The National newspaper reported.

It is a criminal offense to bounce a cheque in the UAE, but the increase in cases relating to this has led to calls within the legal community for a review of the law and how the cases are heard.

“People have to sign blank cheques to rent, borrow, purchase and do business in Dubai. If conditions make it the only method of [doing] business, the courts must not criminalise non-payment,” criminal lawyer Harun Tahlak is quoted as saying in the report.

“Article 401 of the UAE penal code needs to be changed or dropped. [It] states that one who defaults on a cheque with criminal intention can be jailed or fined. But the courts routinely sentence people to jail,” he added.

Fellow lawyer Ali Musabah from PanGlobe Advocates and Legal Consultants argued that the courts rarely issue fines for cheque cases and that jail time should only be for repeat offenders.

“I believe the courts should issue fines for first-time offenders [owing] small amounts. If a person was unable to repay his credit card or bank loan for good reason, he should be fined not jailed,” he told The National.

UAE bounced cheques rise in Q1 but value falls 25%

The number of bounced cheques reported in the UAE in the first four months of 2010 rose but the amount of money involved declined by 25 percent, it was reported on 19th of Aug 2010.

The value of invalid cheques stood at AED18.6bn compared with AED24.8bn in the same period of 2009, Central Bank data showed.

This is despite the total number of bounced cheques rising more than 8 percent during the same period to 588,570 in the first four months of 2010, Emirates Business reported.

While that number equated to one in every 18 cheques for the first four months of 2009, it now stands closer to one in every 16 cheques, the UAE website added.

In November 2009, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum issued a decree to set up a bounced cheques committee which will settle cases related to dud cheques in real estate transactions.Judgments pronounced by the committee will be decisive and unchallengeable, and the committee will be granted “a set of powers in order to discharge its duties properly”, he said.

Under UAE law bouncing a cheque is a criminal offence, which carries a prison sentence, although most instances involving small amounts are settled out of court

Rules Relaxed on workers Health Ckecks in UAE

ABU DHABI // Thousands of people with communicable diseases could be granted work permits after an overhaul of residency medical law.

Tests for hepatitis B will only apply to six specified professions, the Ministry of Health said yesterday. It will scrap all mandatory testing for hepatitis C. Testing for HIV/Aids remains in place and any expatriate who tests positive will be deported, the ministry said.

Examinations for both forms of hepatitis, a blood disease, previously applied to every expatriate wanting to live and work in the Emirates. Dr Mahmoud Fikri, the ministry’s executive director of health policies, said the changes were made after consulting a broad range of medical officials.

“Members from the Dubai Health Authority, Health Authority-Abu Dhabi and the Ministry of Health were involved in the technical committee,” he said. “This is the criteria. It is the same as other Gulf countries and will apply everywhere.”

Senior officials in Abu Dhabi and Dubai have spoken openly about their desire to amend the residency medical law, particularly those articles governing TB. Dr Ali al Marzouqi, the Dubai Health Authority head of public health and safety, said two months ago that the Federal law governing deportation of TB patients was outdated.

The management of some communicable diseases has come under fire in recent years from organisations such as the United Nations, as officials expressed concern about government policies driving illnesses such as TB underground because of the threat of deportation.

The six categories of expatriates affected are nannies; housemaids; nursery and kindergarten supervisors; workers in hairdressing saloons, beauty centres and health clubs; anyone working in processing or food-control authorities; and those employed in cafes and restaurants.

There was some confusion over the issue of mandatory pregnancy tests for maids, nannies and female drivers. Dr Fikri introduced it as a new provision despite its existence in the original 2008 law.

“This will be mandatory now,” he said. “We will do the test and then it will be the decision of the sponsor about whether he wants to proceed or not.” He declined to say what would happen if a positive result came from an unmarried woman.

The amendments to Article 2 of the original 2008 Ministry of Health law makes a hepatitis B vaccination mandatory on arrival in the UAE for the six categories.

“The hepatitis B vaccine must be given for the negative cases of the new six categories' arrivals on condition that they should take three doses and provide a certificate proving the dose,” the law states.

There were 479 cases of hepatitis C diagnosed in Abu Dhabi last year, 77 per cent of which involved expatriates, figures from the Health Authority-Abu Dhabi showed. Of last year’s 145 Abu Dhabi syphilis cases, 93 were found in expats. Figures from Dubai for 2008, the most recent available, show 48 of 52 cases of syphilis, 275 of 399 cases of hepatitis C and 802 of 864 hepatitis B cases involved expatriates. Syphilis testing will also apply only to the six professions and positive results will not result in deportation.

“Treatment must be provided to all positive cases before obtaining the health certificate for residency,” the amended law reads.

The rules governing tuberculosis will also be relaxed under the new amendment. Only patients with “new, old or active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB)” will be refused residency, the law says. Previously extra-pulmonary TB and active pneumonia were also deportable. TB tests as a requirement of renewal of visas have been scrapped.

Nidal al Kabbah, the senior charge nurse at the infectious disease unit at Rashid Hospital, praised the Ministry of Health for making the changes. His unit received 134 cases of pulmonary TB and a further 15 other varieties of the disease last year, he said. It was not known how many involved expats.

“It is great that they are encouraging and supporting every human being’s right to live and work,” he said. “At the same time, they are protecting the population who are already living and working here.”

Certain diseases should remain on the list of deportable diseases because of the increased risk they posed to the general public, Mr al Kabbah said. The hepatitis B bacteria, for example, can survive on surfaces outside the body for as long as two months.

“It is very important to test certain people for hepatitis B,” he said. “Imagine if someone in a kitchen cut themselves without realising it. The virus would spread.”

UAE Annual Leave Entitlement

A reader from Dubai asks: I am an expatriate and have held a valid unlimited residents' visa as a mechanical engineer since November 2005. I would like clarification regarding leave — as stated in Article 75, chapter I1 of the UAE Labour Law. As it is mentioned, every worker shall, within each year of service, be granted a period of annual leave of no less than 30 days a year, where the workers' period of service is more than one year. How is it to be implemented, after completion of the first year of service — is there eligiblity for 30 days' annual leave. When is my second year’s annual leave due? Presently in our organisation it is after the first completion of 12 months' service.

If I avail of 30 days annual leave, my next eligibility for annual leave is due only after again completing 12 months of service, ie, the first 12 months plus one month of annual leave after completion of 12 months ie after 25 months my annual leave is due from the 26th month and so on.

My query is if the Article has specified, within each year of service ie after completion of my first year of service, am I eligible for my second annual leave on the 24th month of continuous service.

Further as our working hours are nine hours per day — 54 hours, even for management staff, is it legal as per the UAE Labour Law as it mentions it has to be 48 hours a week even though I work in a factory.

If it is 48 hours per week, the additional working hour per day amounts to more than 30 days a year ie 6 hours per week x 52 weeks excluding government declared holidays, I am availed of 30 days after completing every 12 months of service. So will it be my annual compensated accumulated leave?

As per article No 75 of the Federal Labour Law No 8 of 1980, concerning workers’ annual leave for 30 days and how to calculate this I would tell the questioner that a worker, at the beginning of his employment in the company, shall work for an entire 12 months and thus as per this article he shall be entitled to 30 days’ leave starting from the first of the 13th month.

As for the second year, the leave of such a worker shall start from the beginning of the 12th month, viz; the worker works in the second year for 11 months only and then he shall be granted annual leave. As for the question regarding the extra work hours and if it is possible to be calculated within the end-of-service gratuity, I would tell the questioner such extra work is to be compensated by being paid for such work and therefore overtime shall not be calculated within the end-of-service gratuity. As for the question on overtime in the factory, in accordance with the Labour Law, whether in terms of management or otherwise, the employer is entitled to request from the ministry that working hours are nine hours a day instead of eight hours as required by the factory. Therefore, such overtime should be paid.

Questions answered by Advocate Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Bahar Advocates and Legal Consultants

Criteria for obtaining a health card in Dubai

In order to obtain a residency visa and labour card, all expatriates are required to undergo a medical and blood test. Employers usually arrange for all the necessary paperwork.

If you are not covered by a company or private medical insurance, it is advisable to apply for a health card which entitles residents to low cost medical treatment at public hospitals and clinics. An application form can be collected from any public hospital then submitted (typed in Arabic), along with the correct documents to your local Health Care Center. The health card is valid for one year and can be renewed online.

Documents required:

Passport copy

Covering letter from sponsor

Visa application copy

2 passport size photographs

Completed application form

Fees

Citizens (card valid for 4 years)

0-9 Years - AED 25

10-17 Years - AED 50

18 Years and Above - AED 100

Non Citizens(card valid for 1 year)

0-9 Years - AED 100

10-17 Years - AED 200

17 Years and Above - AED 300

plus AED 200/- for medical examination

UAE regulator to ban BlackBerry from October

The UAE’s telecoms regulator has announced that BlackBerry services in the country will be suspended from 11 October this year.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said that the suspension was due to the failure of ongoing attempts since 2007 to bring BlackBerry services in the country in line with local regulations.

"With no solution available and in the public interest, in order to affect resolution of this issue, as of October 11, 2010, Blackberry Messenger, Blackberry Email and Blackberry Web-browsing services will be suspended until an acceptable solution can be developed and applied," said TRA director general Mohamed Al Ghanim.

"The TRA notes that Blackberry appears to be compliant in similar regulatory environments of other countries, which makes non-compliance in the UAE both disappointing and of great concern."

Telcos Etisalat and du were informed of the TRA’s decision on Sunday. They were also instructed to ensure minimal consumer disruption in the provision of alternative services.

In a statement, the UAE’s biggest telecoms provider, Etisalat, said that it “fully understands the legal and social considerations behind the decision."

The operator also announced that it “will soon be announcing a range of alternative mobility products and services for its BlackBerry products” without providing any further detail.

“All Blackberry services fall within the UAE regulatory framework developed by the TRA since 2007, however because of Blackberry's technical configuration, some Blackberry services operate beyond the enforcement of these regulations,” said a statement issued by the TRA.

“Blackberry data is immediately exported off-shore, where it is managed by a foreign, commercial organization. Blackberry data services are currently the only data services operating in the UAE where this is the case.

“Today's decision is based on the fact that, in their current form, certain Blackberry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns for the UAE.”