Dubai: In the UAE, several changes to the country’s laws were announced this year. Several decree laws were also announced in 2020, altering the regulations related to personal status, social life and personal freedoms. Here is a roundup of the biggest changes that will affect you and your life in the UAE.
1. Changes to marriage laws
In November 2020, President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a number of presidential decrees amending some articles in the Personal Status Law, the Federal Penal Code, and the Federal Penal Procedural Law.
One of the changes to the Personal Status Code stipulated that the laws of the country in which a marriage took place would be applied with regards to the marriage’s terms. The earlier provisions applied the laws of each spouse’s country of nationality.
But what does the law mean for business owners and entrepreneurs and when will the changes come into effect? Here is all you need to know.
Hani Naja, Partner Corporate and Commercial at Baker McKenzie Habib Al Mulla, spoke to Gulf News about the new law and the changes that had already been implemented over the years, leading up to the recent announcement.
“The push for a relaxation in foreign direct investment in the UAE started a number of years ago. The first major change was in September 2018, with the issuance of the Foreign Direct Investment Law (FDI Law), which opened up the UAE market to foreign investors in certain sectors of the economy. The FDI law was then followed by the announcement on July 2019 of a Positive List of 122 business activities where foreign investors can own up to 100 per cent of the shares in an onshore company. The Positive List focused on the manufacturing, agricultural and services sectors,” he said.