New company law by end of 2011, says Al Mansouri UAE Minister of Economy

Abu Dhabi: A new company law is awaiting government approval, a top official said on Wednesday.

A draft Companies Law is with the government for consideration, Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi.

He said, it will go through a process of scrutiny and verification and ammendments till it is passed by the government.

“It could be issued before the end of this year,” he said.

UAE’s Commercial Companies Law allows foreigners a maximum of 49 per cent stake in companies outside free zones. However foreigners are allowed 100 per cent stake in companies registered within the free zones.

The move will help the UAE to attract more foreign investment that could boost local employment and help the economy grow, analyst say.

Per second billing approved for etisalat mobile subscribers

Etisalat, du working on common landline services and ending location monopoly: TRA chief

Etisalat will start charging mobile phone subscribers per second for calls, reported Arabic newspapers. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, Director-General, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), said etisalat has been given the approval to charge subscribers per second for the calls they make. This is to ensure healthy competition in UAE telecommunications market.

The TRA's role ends with giving approval for services, the price packages. The time of implementaion is up to the operator to decide, he added. Franchise rights are imposed by the Ministry of Finance and TRA does not have a say in that, Ghanim said.

According to latest estimates, etisalat has about 47,000 'distinguished subscriber's whom it charges per second for mobile phone calls.

Meanwhile, TRA will meet with representatives of etisalat and du separately to discuss strategic plans for the next three years, Ghanim said and added that both the telecom operators are curently working on offering common landline telephone and internet services. They are working towards opening terrestrial networks by the year-end and ending geographic monopoly, he said.“The two companies recently have begun testing systems, communications networks before starting to extend the area of operation to include all areas of the UAE,” said Ghanim.

"The TRA oversees direct negotiations between the two companies," he added.

In UAE six-month employment ban is still very much in force

Ministry says new law only makes job shift more flexible as it turns down several requests.New rules enforced by the UAE at the start of 2011 allowing workers to shift to another job still include a six-month ban on those who do not fully abide by the specified terms, the ministry of labour has said.

In a statement carried by the Arabic language daily Alkhaleej on Sunday, the ministry said it turned down applications in January by many workers who had left their employers and wanted to move to another sponsor because they failed to justify their move.

“Those workers mentioned some mistakes committed by their employers but they did not comply with the new cabinet decision nor did they know the measures that govern such a decision or the terms needed to be met in order to get consent by the ministry for their shifting to another employer,” it said.

The statement said the ministry found that those workers had quit their jobs without any real reason, trying to benefit from the new job transfer measures without clearly understanding them.

“This prompted the ministry to impose a six-month ban on them because an exemption of this ban will be granted only under the new regulations…the six-month ban is still in force but the new decision was introduced only to add some flexibility to job transfer under certain conditions and rules which should be enforced by the ministry of laour without any exception,” it said.

“Such condition must mainly include that the work contract between the employee and the employer should be terminated with the consent of both parties and the worker has competed at least two years in the job with that employer.”

But the ministry said such a condition could be excluded in case the employer breaks terms of the contract or fails to pay workers their wages for at least 60 days. Workers can also apply for transfer in case their establishment has shut down.

“Another case involves a court suit against the employer by the employee provided the court issues a sentence in favour of the employee…in any case, the worker should not quit the job without any reason or justification as this will result in a six-month ban.”

60-day work permits for first-time workers in UAE

Ministry of Labour has announced that new workers can now come to the UAE on work permits valid for 60 days, provided they are above 18 years of age and posses a passport valid for more than six months. Most importantly, the rule is applicable only to those who have never worked in the UAE before.Such work permits can be extended six times provided the fee and bank guarantee are paid before each expiry date. Expired work permits will incur a fine of Dh500 for every 10 days from the date of original expiry or the extended expiry date.

And in case of non-payment of fees and bank guarantee within 60 days, the permit will be automatically cancelled.UAE citizens and GCC nationals cannot apply under this permit.

Similarly, companies bringing such workers must possess a valid licence and the person in charge must possess the authority to have an electronic signature.Tasheel centres are authorised to issue such work permits

UAE Ministry of Labour approve requests for temporary work permits without employer’s consent

The Ministry of Labour will approve requests for temporary work permits without the consent of the former employer, as long as the residence visa and labour card of the applicant is valid.The ministry’s latest ruling came in reference to labour cases referred to it by the courts, according to a report in Al Khaleej newspaper.

The Ministry of Labor stated that it has received requests from workers for temporary work permits.

The ministry statement said, “The labourers confirmed in their applications that they are working for a private construction company and the project was stopped due to circumstances involving the company.“So they wanted to work, for a limited time, for another company till the conditions of their original company improved.”

According to the employment contract they were not allowed to work for anywhere else for the term of their contract - two years.However, the ministry granted temporary work permits because the company is not paying them wages on a monthly basis.

The ministry, however, requires that the workers submit documents proving that the current establishment has not paid the wages for two months or more, based on a report of the Office of Protection of Wages, or the Labour Relations department.