Bahrain’s Parliament has approved a recommendation from the Financial and Economic Committee on amendments to the Commercial Companies Law. The aim is to introduce more investment choices and remove investment obstacles. A Bahraini MP has confirmed the importance of the law but said they hoped it comes in the form of a draft law to make it possible to amend some of its paragraphs which the chamber had some reservations on.
Abu Dhabi’s Judicial Department has announced it has launched a digital authentication project. It will allow documents issued by the Department’s systems to be approved in an integrated digital way which is compatible with the UAE PASS digital identity system to authenticate documents. Digital authentication will be applied to notary and authentication transactions, as part of the completion of the digital transformation plan, in line with Government directions to keep up with technological development using the latest technologies and the highest standards of information security.
According to reports by the Kuwaiti state news agency Saudi Arabia is to reopen its land and sea border with Qatar.
The borders have been shut since 2017. The move is seen as the first step to ending the diplomatic crisis between the two countries. According to several reports, Qatar will, in return, drop its lawsuits against Saudi and its allies, as part of a broader agreement to defuse tensions, which is due to be signed on 5 January 2021. The border with Saudi is Qatar’s only land border.
Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain have also been part of the blockade. Kuwait has been mediating between Qatar and the four states. The change allows the Qatari leader to attend the GCC summit which is being held in Saudi.
According to reports in Arab News Saudi will also be reopening its airspace to Qatar. Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE have also agreed to fully restore ties with Qatar.
They signed the Al Ula Declaration with Qatar during the 41st summit of GCC leaders.
They have committed to fully restoring all diplomatic ties, but it is unclear what this means in practice and how long the process will take.
Arabtec has formally filed an insolvency liquidation application following the approval of the proposal by their General Assembly. The application covers Arabtec Construction LLC, Arabtec Constructions LLC, Austrian Arabian Readymix Concrete Co LLC and Arabtec Precast LLC also be placed into insolvent liquidation. No applications involving the company’s other subsidiaries have been made. Until an insolvency trustee is appointed, the Company will continue engaging with key stakeholders to explore options to preserve value and where possible avoid these subsidiaries needing to be placed into a formal insolvency process. It follows two months of consultations with all of the company’ relevant stakeholders. Their liabilities are calculated at 18 billion AED.
Saudi Arabia’s Industry and Mineral Resources Minister has agreed to restructure the mining sector by creating three new agencies. They will be led by the Deputy Minister for Mining Affairs. They are the Ministry’s Agency for Mineral Resources, the Ministry’s Agency for Mining Control and Compliance and the Ministry’s Agency for Mining Development. The aim is to provide faster and better services to investors in the mining sector.
Qatar’s Shoura Council has approved the Private Associations and Institutions Decree-Law (Qatar Decree-Law No. 21/2020). They approved it after discussing a report from the Public Services and Utilities Committee on it. It defines an association as a group which is composed of several natural or legal persons who participate together to carry out a social, cultural, scientific, educational, or professional activity, without seeking a profit. It also defines the professional association as an association consisting of the owners of one profession regulated by law. In addition, it defines a private enterprise as a private establishment set up by one or more natural or legal persons to achieve one or more charitable or public or private benefit purposes without looking to make a profit. Finally, it specifies the conditions for establishing an association, its founding contract requirements, its articles of association, how to register it, its objectives, the license period and aspects related to its management, finances and control of its business. They have referred it to the Government to consider.
Oman’s Capital Market Authority has announced it has issued insurance investment regulatory guidelines. They will regulate investments of insurance companies and Takaful insurance in the Sultanate. They give insurance firms greater flexibility in making investments to support their corporate growth objectives, while maintaining adequate reserves and liquidity to handle claims from policyholders. In terms of Takaful insurers, Takaful companies will have to comply with legal provisions like deeds and Islamic investment funds according to the specified percentages and terms regardless of whether they are investing in or outside the Sultanate. The regulations impose limits on investments in schemes like deposit, commercial and Government bonds and the public joint stock companies’ shares, investment funds and companies which are not listed on the stock exchange as well as real estate. When drafting the guidelines, the Authority considered investment trends, market volatility issues, international developments in the sector among other things. It is part of efforts by the Authority to support the development of the Omani insurance market and enable insurance firms to diversify their investments.
According to local media reports, the first case for Coronavirus losses has been launched in Kuwait. The case involves a nursery who are requesting financial and moral compensation from the State for losses incurred as a result of anti-Coronavirus measures. They are relying on the principle that the State has to provide compensation for damage suffered by natural disasters. The nursery is not disputing the State’s authority to close nurseries. They claim the decision was arbitrary and have asked the court to delegate an expert to determine the value of the damages caused to their facilities as a result of this decision and the consequences of preventing them from collecting child registration fees for 2019 and 2020 and 2020 and 2021. Nurseries were closed down on 11 March and were meant to reopen in the fifth and final phase of the country’s unlocking. However, this phase has been postponed. 400 nurseries are estimated to have been affected by the Government decision. It is expected more nursery owners and similar businesses will join the litigation.
The Dubai Financial Service Authority have announced they have launched a public consultation on proposed amendments to the Employee Money Purchase Regime. It ends on 17 January 2021. The aim is to address various practical issues the Authority has encountered in administering the regime. Employees of DIFC businesses, DIFC employers, Operators and Administrators of Employee Money Purchase Schemes, persons offering foreign Employee Money Purchase schemes to DIFC employers and employees, life insurers conducting pension fund management, persons conducting other financial services that involve an interest in an Employee Money Purchase Scheme and persons who intend to carry out any of these activities should review these proposals.
Bahrain’s Cabinet has approved a memorandum from the Ministerial Committee for Legal and Legislative Affairs on the Kingdom’s accession to the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI).
