Anti-Fraud Law got approval in U.A.E

A new law aimed at combating counterfeit goods and other commercial fraud has been approved by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The new law, issued by Shaikh Khalifa on December 12 and published in the official gazette, replaces the Commercial Fraud Law and is intended to enhance the existing intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement mechanism.

The law, which took effect immediately, imposes tougher penalties on counterfeiters. The maximum penalty under the new law is a jail term of up to two years and/or a fine of as much as Dh1 million.

Legal experts said the law enhances brand owners’ rights, citing articles that make it an offence to possess counterfeits, even where the IPR holder is unable to prove that the counterfeiter intends to sell them.

A federal committee to combat commercial fraud will be set up. It will have sweeping powers to close down offending businesses, be they inland or in free zones, and bring to task officials of these firms, once the existing draft bill turns into law, according to Federal National Council.

The law will cover fraud in goods, contractual jobs and services offered by businesses across the UAE, including free zone companies.

The committee, which will report to the Ministry of Economy, will work out anti-fraud strategies and policies, study reports of fraud submitted by competent authorities and take decisions on it. Subcommittees with powers to close down offending businesses for up to two weeks; order confiscating of goods and reach a settlement with businesses involved or refer cases to the court will also be created in each emirate.

Subcommittees will follow up destruction, recycling or return of confiscated goods to exporters. Substandard goods may be seized for a month by these committees and a decision to get these goods released is taken by the court after a settlement is reached over how goods may be disposed of and the fine paid.

The new law reserves the maximum penalties for pharmaceutical and food products, but even those who deal in counterfeit goods outside of these categories may be fined up to Dh250,000. The authorities are also empowered to close stores that sell counterfeit goods, and repeat offenders may have their trade licences cancelled.

“Anyone who deceives or attempts to deceive another party by means of fraud in human food, animal feed, medicines, crops or natural products may be punished. Anyone promoting by any media means or possessing fraudulent and/or deceitful products may also be punishable under this law,” states the law.

The same penalty would be imposed on offenders who fail to obey decisions by subcommittees regarding human food, animal feed, medicines, crops or natural products. Legal experts said a jail term of up to six months and a fine amounting to two times the price of the goods involved would be imposed in case of other fraudulent goods. The only law on commercial fraud which was in practice in the country was drafted in 1979. It called for a maximum jail term of two years and maximum fine of Dh10,000 for cheating a customer by delivering goods that are different to what is ordered

 

Legal experts said the law is meant to step up efforts to fight fraud and trade in fake goods, with unscrupulous inland and free zone traders facing up to two years in jail, a Dh1 million fine and being named and shamed at their cost.

Traders in counterfeit goods will be penalised even if buyers knew about these goods ahead of the transaction, stated the law.

The law empowers the court to order confiscation or destruction of food, medical drugs, crops and tools. Under the law, the court may also order publishing the convictions in two local Arabic and English dailies with the convicts bearing the cost.

The court may also order the business of offenders to be closed down for up to six months. If a business is a department store, only the offending department will be shut down. Repeat offenders may face revoking of their trading licences and double penalties.

Fraud may also be applicable in cases where products have been adulterated or an attempt to adulterate products is detected.

Mandatory Dubai health insurance deadline getting extension

The Dubai Health Authority has made the decision due to the high influx of customers flocking to insurance companies in the last few days and in consideration to those who were not able to get the insurance in time due to one circumstance or another.

One of the key differences of Dubai's health insurance regime is that employers are not required to provide coverage for the dependents of their employees. ... Failure by employers to provide insurance carries fines of between Dh500 and Dh150,000.

Approved by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Dubai Health Insurance Law No. 11 of 2013 came into effect on 1 January 2014 (Law).  The aim of the Law is to create an integrated health system for Dubai, based on a sustainable financing system that supports the competitiveness of Dubai and protects the rights of all participants.  The Law phases in the requirement for all employers in Dubai to have in place compliant health insurance cover for their employees.  It applies to all participants in the health insurance arena including health service providers, insurance companies, insurance brokers, claims administration companies, employers, sponsors and beneficiaries. 

Whilst the Law came into effect on 1 January 2014, the provision of health insurance cover will only become mandatory for:

•     companies with more than 1,000 employees, from 31 October 2014;
•     companies with 100-999 employees, from 31 July 2015; and
•     companies with less than 100 employees, from 30 June 2016.

The roll out phase also provides that dependents of sponsors, including domestic workers, must also be covered for the basic health coverage by 30 June 2016.

What does this mean for me as an employee based in Dubai?

The Law’s jurisdiction spreads across the entirety of the Emirate, including its development areas and free zones so eventually all of the nearly three million residents of Dubai, nationals and expatriates alike, should be covered.  That said, the minimum cover offered will differ between residents and nationals with the later also having access to additional preventative and therapeutic health services.  The schemes for both nationals and residents will at a minimum cover general practitioner visits, emergency treatments, referrals to specialists as well as surgical, investigative and maternity procedures. 

What are my obligations as an employer?

Employers are required to put in place health cover for their staff that meets the minimum requirements of the Law.  The Law stipulates that employers cannot simply pass on the cost of the cover to their staff and the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has made clear that it will treat any attempts to do so seriously.  As a means of ensuring cover is put in place and maintained, the renewal of an employee’s visa will be subject to the employee having health insurance in place.  Employers have to provide a basic health coverage with an annual premium anywhere between Dh500-Dh700 and a maximum insurance cover per person per annum of Dh150,000.

One of the key differences of Dubai’s health insurance regime is that employers are not required to provide coverage for the dependents of their employees.  By making family cover compulsory, companies could be biased towards hiring single executives to save costs which could, in turn, shift the balance of Dubai’s demographic make-up away from its current family-orientated focus.  Instead, cover for dependents falls to the sponsor themselves.  So, where a dependent does not receive cover from an employer, it becomes the responsibility of the sponsor to put in place and maintain the required cover.

Failure by employers to provide insurance carries fines of between Dh500 and Dh150,000.  Repeated breaches carry a maximum fine of Dh 500,000.

Indian Passport rules liberalized

    In order to streamline, liberalise and ease the process of issue of passport, Indian Ministry of External Affairs has taken a number of steps in the realm of passport policy which is expected to benefit the citizens of India applying for a passport. The details of these steps are given below: -

    PROOF OF DATE OF BIRTH

    As per the extant statutory provisions of the Passport Rules, 1980, all the applicants born on or after 26/01/1989, in order to get a passport, had to, hitherto, mandatorily submit the Birth Certificate as the proof of Date of Birth (DOB). It has now been decided that all applicants of passports can submit any one of the following documents as the proof of DOB while submitting the passport application:

    (i) Birth Certificate (BC) issued by the Registrar of Births & Deaths or the Municipal Corporation or any other prescribed authority whosoever has been empowered under the Registration of Birth & Deaths Act, 1969 to register the birth of a child born in India;

    (ii) Transfer/School leaving/Matriculation Certificate issued by the school last attended/recognised educational board containing the DOB of the applicant;

    (iii) PAN Card issued by the Income Tax Department with the DOB of applicant;

    (iv) Aadhar Card/E-Aadhar having the DOB of applicant;

    (v) Copy of the extract of the service record of the applicant (only in respect of Government servants) or the Pay Pension Order (in respect of retired Government Servants), duly attested/certified by the officer/in-charge of the Administration of the concerned Ministry/Department of the applicant, having his DOB;

    (vi) Driving licence issued by the Transport Department of concerned State Government, having the DOB of applicant;

    (vii) Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India having the DOB of applicant;

    (viii) Policy Bond issued by the Public Life Insurance Corporations/Companies having the DOB of the holder of the insurance policy.

    Report of the Inter Ministerial Committee

    A three-member Committee comprising of the officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Women and Child Development was constituted to examine various issues pertaining to passport applications where mother/child has insisted that the name of the father should not be mentioned in the passport and also relate to passport issues to children with single parent and to adopted children. The Report of the Committee has been accepted by the Minister of External Affairs.

    The following policy changes have been made inter-alia on the basis of the recommendations of this Committee:

    (i) The online passport application form now requires the applicant to provide the name of father or mother or legal guardian, i.e., only one parent and not both. This would enable single parents to apply for passports for their children and to also issue passports where the name of either the father or the mother is not required to be printed at the request of the applicant.

    (ii) The total number of Annexes prescribed in the Passport Rule, 1980, has been brought down to 9 from the present 15. Annexes A, C, D, E, J, and K have been removed and certain Annexes have been merged.

    (iii) All the annexes that are required to be given by the applicants would be in the form of a self-declaration on a plain paper. No attestation/swearing by/before any Notary/Executive Magistrate/First Class Judicial Magistrate would be henceforth necessary.

    (iv) Married applicants would not be required to provide Annexure K or any marriage certificate.

    (v) The Passport application form does not require the applicant to provide the name of her/his spouse in case of separated or divorced persons. Such applicants for passports would not be required to provide even the Divorce Decree.

    (vi) Orphaned children who do not have any proof of DOB such as Birth Certificate or the Matriculation Certificate or the declaratory Court order, may now submit a declaration given by the Head of the Orphanage/Child Care Home on their official letterhead of the organisation confirming the DOB of the applicant.

    (vii) In the case of children not born out of wedlock, the applicant for the passport of such children should submit only Annexure G while submitting the passport application.

    (viii) In the case of issue of passport to in-country domestically adopted children, submission of the registered adoption deed would no longer be required. In the absence of any deed to this effect, the passport applicant may give a declaration on a plain paper confirming the adoption.

    (ix) Government servants, who are not able to obtain the Identity Certificate (Annexure-B)/ No-Objection Certificate (Annexure-M) from their concerned employer and intend to get the passport on urgent basis can now get the passport by submitting a self-declaration in Annexure-‘N’ that he/she has given prior Intimation letter to his/her employer informing that he/she was applying for an ordinary passport to a Passport Issuing Authority.

    (x) Sadhus/ Sanyasis can apply for a passport with the name of their spiritual Guru mentioned in the passport application in lieu of their biological parent(s) name(s) subject to their providing of at least one public document such as Election Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Election Commission of India, PAN card, Adhar Card, etc wherein the name of the Guru has been recorded against the column(s) for parent(s) name(s).

    Necessary notifications would be soon published in the Official Gazette to give effect to these changes. Instructions are also being issued to the Passport Issuing Authorities in India and abroad on these revised regulations.

    The Ministry of External Affairs expects that the above changes in the Passport Rules would further ease the process for passport applicants in getting their Passport. At the same time, it would enable this Ministry to continue to deliver passport related services to the citizens in a timely, transparent, more accessible, reliable manner and in a comfortable environment through streamlined processes and committed, trained and motivated workforce.

Independent Execution Court established in Dubai

Dubai Courts have announced the establishment of an independent Execution Court to improve the efficiency of the judicial system, it was announced on Tuesday.

The establishment comes under Resolution No (8) of 2016 issued by Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Judicial Council.

Under the resolution, Judge Abdullah Ahmad Ali Al Kaitoob is appointed the head of the new Execution Court which serves as a significant addition to existing specialised courts which include the Civil, Labour, Real Estate, Commercial, Criminal and Personal Status courts.

The move comes in response to the growing need for an independent court to address the increasing number of execution cases.

Tarish Eid Al Mansouri, director general of Dubai Courts, explained that the introduction of the Execution Court is significant for the development of the judicial industry as it serves as a cornerstone for enhancing the UAE’s position in the World Bank’s annual Global Competitiveness Report by expediting verdicts on execution cases.

He said that this move lays a solid foundation for improving execution durations which is one of the main challenges in contract execution and an issue that made Dubai Courts rank 144th in the 2015 Report.

He emphasised that a specialised court for executions will play a pivotal role in achieving the ambitious vision of creating “pioneering and internationally distinguished courts” capable of completing cases swiftly. He added that the move will positively impact local and global confidence in the legal and judicial system.

“We seek to activate the institutional role of the Execution Court through the development of an independent strategic plan that is closely linked to the goals of the Strategic Document 2016-2019 which ensures that justice is served accurately and swiftly, providing easy access to judicial services and upholding the values of justice, independence, transparency and innovation,” he said.

“We welcome the establishment of the Execution Court which will help measure the strategic performance indicators of execution cases included in the Strategic Document 2016-2019 accurately and efficiently. It will help us sustain our success in strengthening the judicial system based on the pillars of neutrality, impartiality, transparency, justice and equality to consolidate the global leadership of Dubai.”

The establishment of the Execution Court paves the way for the development of an independent strategy for execution cases, similar to other specialised courts of the first instance, that preserves the influential role of managing execution cases in a manner that embodies Dubai Courts’ goal of effectively dispensing justice. The new court will adhere to a comprehensive operational plan that includes various quality initiatives and programmes for improving the implementation of provisions