Public Sector Procurement -Public Tender Law in UAE

The Federal Regulation of Conditions of Purchases, Tenders and Contracts, Financial Order No. 16 of 1975 (the Public Tenders Law) regulates bidding for public sector tenders. With certain exceptions, only UAE nationals, foreign entities represented by a UAE agent, or foreign entities with UAE partners (i.e., a UAE entity with at least 51 per cent UAE ownership (‘national entities’) may bid for public sector tenders for the supply of goods and public works projects that are governed by the Public Tenders Law. As a result, foreign entities wishing to perform public sector contracts are generally required to have some level of UAE national participation. Such participation typically takes the form of either:

(i) A registered commercial agency

(ii) A ‘service agent’ of the foreign entity’s UAE branch office

(iii) The majority owner of a joint venture in which the foreign entity owns 49 per cent or less of a UAE limited liability company (i.e. a national entity).

The following are three major exceptions to the application of the Public Tenders Law: 

1) The Public Tenders Law does not apply to purchases and contracts conducted by the federal defence forces – procurements for the federal defence forces are conducted pursuant to Decree 12 of 1986 of the Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (the ‘Armed Forces Procurement Regulations’.

2)The Public Tenders Law relates to federal government procurement and not procurement by the governments of the individual emirates. For example, Abu Dhabi has a procurement system, which generally tracks that of the Federal Public Tenders Law by requiring suppliers to have commercial agents or national companies that are registered with the Abu Dhabi municipality. 

3) The general requirement for UAE national participation is not uniformly observed by all government agencies in the context of certain direct sales to the public sector or private tenders in which the government solicits bids directly from relevant manufacturers, particularly in cases in which the goods or services are quite specialized or not widely available. These ‘exceptions’ arise on a case-by-case basis

Customs Regulations in UAE

On entering UAE at the airport or elsewhere, visitors may be subject to a check by customs officers. Tourists should take careful note of the following customs regulations:

Visitors to Dubai can bring the following items free of duty:

 » Gifts with a value not exceeding AED 3,000

» 400 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 500g of loose tobacco

» 4 litres of alcohol, or 2 cartons of beer (1 carton = 24 cans, each not exceeding 355 ml)

The following items of personal luggage are also exempt from duty, provided it is of a personal and not commercial nature:

 » Personal belongings, cameras, radios, CD and DVD players, projectors, telescopes, mobile phones, computers, baby strollers, portable music equipment, sports equipment

» Up to AED 40,000 in cash and travellers cheques provided the passenger is 18 or over

Items prohibited in Dubai include narcotic drugs, goods from Israel or with an Israeli logo/trademark, crude ivory and rhinoceros horn, gambling equipment, tires, radioactive material, forged currency, cooked and home-made food, and prints, sculptures, and lithographs.

There are several types of items that must be declared to Dubai Customs on arrival. Non-declaration of these is an offence. Such items include:

•  Cash (or equivalents) above AED 40,000 or $US 10,000
•  Pets
•  Skins of endangered animals subject to the CITES Convention
•  Books, films, DVDs, CDs, photographs
•  Gifts with a value of more than AED 3,000
•  Medicines – even if for personal use
•  Fireworks, explosives, weapons, ammunition, knives, swords, self-defence equipment
• Plants, trees, soil
• Narcotics
• Medicines

Note: Due to increasing concerns from readers concerning medicines we reference the following information. We take no responsibility whatsoever for its accuracy or whether it is currently up to date.

Statement on medication

Individuals may bring medicine into the country for their personal use. Up to three months’ supply of a prescription item can be brought into the country by a visitor and 12 months’ supply by a resident if they can produce a doctor’s letter or a copy of the original prescription. Narcotic items can only be brought into the UAE in exceptional cases with prior permission from the director of medicine and pharmacy control. These guidelines relate to medicines brought in by an individual through an airport or border crossing and medicines arriving by post. 

Visitors must take care to ensure that medicines and medications prescribed in their home countries are not restricted before travelling to the UAE. The UAE Ministry of Health’s Drug Control Department publishes a list of controlled medicines and medications. Visitors should contact the Ministry of Health drug control department to check whether their medication is on the controlled list, and needs prior permission for importation. The Customer Service Centre of the drug control department can be contacted by emailing drugcl.csc@moh.gov.ae, by telephone on +971 2 611 7240 or by fax +971 2 632 7644.

The following PDF documents are on the UAE Ministry of Health website:

 » Guidelines for Import of Personal Medicines

» List of Restricted and Controlled Drugs

Labour rights under husband's sponsorship in UAE

My wife has been working in a company for almost three years under a limited period contract that expires after six months. She is on my sponsorship and has a work permit. My questions are: Can my wife resign immediately or does she need to give one-month notice to the company as per the law? If the company does not accept her resignation, will the Ministry of Labour impose a ban on her although she is under my sponsorship? What are my wife’s rights for end-of-service gratuity in accordance with the labour law?

The questioner’s wife is working on a contract for a limited period and if the contract is terminated pre-term, she will lose her labour rights except the right related to leaves only. Also, the wife might be requested to compensate the employer an amount equivalent to a salary for 45 days if the employer proves that he suffered a loss or was affected by such behaviour. Finally, the employer might request the Ministry of Labour to impose a one-year ban on the wife due to this violation even if the wife is not under the company’s sponsorship.

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

Dubai Court of Cassation clarifies terms for suing employee for joining competition

The Dubai Court of Cassation has ruled that that an employer has the right to seek compensation from an employee who breaches the terms of contract by joining a competitor, within two years of leaving office.
However, the court, while dismissing a case filed against an employee, observed that the employer should prove claims of damage caused by the action with clear evidence.
The pronouncements came during the hearings of a case in which a company sought Dh100,000 in compensation from one of his former employees for breaching the terms of contract by joining the company’s competitor.
The lawsuit was filed against a woman, a computer programmer, by a shipping company, which claimed that the defendant damaged the prospects of her former employer by joining its competitor and sharing the company’s internal secrets with her new employer.
The Court of First Instance, which first heard the dismissed it for lack of evidence of any damage caused by the employee’s actions, which prompted the plaintiff to appeal the verdict before the Court of Cassation.
The Court of Appeal upheld the ruling, but the company appealed the verdict once again before the Court of Cassation, which made the above observations.
The Court of Cassation rejected the company's appeal and based its ruling on the text of Article 127 of the law regulating labor relations.
The court said: “Although the employee had violated the non-competition clause mentioned in the contract, however, the breach did not result in harm to the company.”
The court added that the case documents are free from any evidence of damage to the company and hence, the plaintiff’s claims are not right.

Property must be worth Dh1m for UAE's new 3-year real estate visa

Details surrounding the new three-year real estate visa announced by the UAE government last week are flying in thick and fast.The visa will not be available to investors in land, but will allow property investors to sponsor their families and stay in the UAE for three years without leaving, according to senior government officials.Major General Nasser Bin Al Awadi Al Menhali, assistant undersecretary for Naturalisation, Residence and Ports Affairs, told Gulf News that the full details of the law would be made public soon.

It is still unclear if the visa provides investors all the usual benefits of a residence visa, such as enabling them to open bank accounts and apply for local driving licences.While this website on Monday spoke to a source who claimed to be in the know as to what was discussed at these meetings before announcing the decision, no official statement has been forthcoming so far. Until now.

An official quoted in press reports today has stated that the value of the property will have to be Dh1million for an investor to sponsor his/her family and stay in the UAE for three years without leaving, after getting the visa. source had said that: “A number of proposals were discussed at the meeting with ministry officials and one of the proposals was to restrict stay of the property owner to nine or 10 months in a year. However, the final regulation is yet to be drafted.”

However, Gulf News on Tuesday quoted Major-General Nasser bin Al Awadi Al Menhali, Assistant Undersecretary for Naturalisation, Residence and Ports Affairs, as saying that those with property worth more than a Dh1m will be allowed to stay for three years on the new visa.

“Investors can have access to banking services through their international bank accounts. However, it is not yet clear if they can avail of regular benefits of a residence visa holder such as open bank accounts and seek local driving licences,” the paper quoted Menhali as saying.Again, this website’s source had said that access to a number of services - such as applying for a local driving licence, personal loans and getting admission to schools – was also discussed at the meeting.

“The longer duration was requested to allow investors, who want their children to attend schools, have enough time. Generally, schools have long summer holidays and Eid vacation. So, we though, nine or 10 months is sufficient,” the source said.

Sultan Butti bin Mejren, Director-General of Dubai Land Department was quoted by Gulf News as saying that the Dubai Land Department will check the value of properties to see if owners qualify for the extended visa scheme.The UAE Federal government on June 28 announced it was extending visa for real estate investors from six months to three years.

This website had reported then that the discussion about extension of the property visa was held about a month-and-a-half ago and a number of issues were discussed.Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, Director-General of the Dubai Land Department, said his department would be involved in checking the value of properties to see if owners qualify for visas."As soon as the bylaws are issued, the link between the two departments will be activated to check the real value of the property as well as the transaction that will alert the system of the transaction," Bin Mejren said.

Al Menhali added: "The aim of this law is not full residence in the UAE but to give more flexibility and make it easy for the investors to stay and move in and out of the UAE to manage and watch over their properties."