News developments
In Qatar, the Health Monitoring Section of Al Sheehaniya Municipality has seized illegal food from a number of food outlets in Umm Al Zubar. The outlets had been running without the appropriate licenses. The Ministry of Municipality and Environment has stated the measures were taken during an inspection campaign in line with Qatar Law No. 8/1990 on regulating food items.
News developments
Bahrain’s MP Ahmed Alsalloum who is the chairman of the financial and economic affairs committee has revealed his intention to propose an amendment to the electronic trade law. The aim of the proposal is to protect local traders against the international electronic trade. The MP has stated Bahrain needs to settle rules and regulations to create a balance between international electronic trade and local traditional trade.
News developments
The President of Ajman Free Zone has announced eight new incentives designed to support existing and new companies in the free zone during the second half of 2020. The incentives will include a wide range of deductions and exemptions. The incentives include a full exemption for returned cheques fines, cheques replacement fines, license renewal fees, and a 100% exemption on fees to guarantee participation in smart services. During the second half of the year existing and new companies in the free zone will also have the opportunity to benefit from a wide range of flexible instalments plans for a period of three months when renting a business centre, and flexible instalments for a period of six months when renting offices, executive offices or warehouses, and a 25% discount on workers’ housing fees.
News developments
The Dubai Government has partnered with the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG) to launch the Great Economic Reset Programme as part of its post COVID-19 initiative. The programme will include analysis of current and future policies, research and extensive stakeholder consultation to set the direction and tone of future economic policies, regulations and initiatives. A Virtual Policy Council will propose the best approaches Dubai and the UAE can adopt to address the risks and opportunities in the new normal economy.
Weekly Spotlight
The sad events in Beirut this week have shocked the world resulting as they have done in the deaths of at least 135 people, over 5000 injured and up to 250,000 now homeless after ammonium nitrate which had been stored in the port for over six years caused a massive explosion. As is now emerging it began with a legal story – the arrest of an indebted Russian leased cargo ship which had made an unscheduled stop at the port. It is being reported that customs officials had repeated sought clarification from the courts on what they should do with the seized cargo and had made suggestions including handing it over to the army or selling it to a private company.
It is understood the Cabinet have now ordered the house arrest of the officials who were responsible for storing the material so there will undoubtedly also be further legal developments in this case including litigation, possibly new laws and regulations, and even potentially changes of legal procedure.
We began our analysis yesterday on Lexis Middle East with an article by Michael Kortbawi of BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates LLP on the potential compensation sources https://www.lexismiddleeast.com/eJournal/2020-08-05_22/
In the coming months as matters are unearthed and authorities in Lebanon and potentially elsewhere in the region too, learn the lessons from this event and make legal changes, we will continue to follow this story and provide further analysis.
News developments
Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission has unveiled a campaign against trafficking in people. The campaign, entitled ‘Together to Combat Trafficking in Persons in the Kingdom’ was launched by head of the Human Rights Commission ahead of the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons which is marked on 30 July. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has also sought to reform its justice system. Recent changes have included the abolition of the death penalty for minor offenders and flogging as a form of punishment.
News developments
Qatar’s Council of Ministers has approved amendments to the decision on reducing the number of private and public sector employees working in their workplaces. Under the amendment, up to 80% of employees, depending on their employer’s needs can return to their workplaces. The other 20% should continue working from home. The change applies from 28 July.
News developments
The Omani Court of Appeal has sentenced a public employee to 10 years in jail after convicting him of embezzling 1.2 million Omani riyals and of money laundering. The defendant was convicted of embezzlement and money laundering in two separate cases. In the first, he was given a five-year jail term and fined 1.2 million Riyals. In the second, the court sentenced the convicted employee to another five years in jail for money laundering and a fine of 50,000 Omani riyals. The court also ordered the dismissal of the convicted employee from his post and he has been banned from taking on public posts forever. The seizure of his funds has also been ordered.
News developments
In line with the ‘Go Safe’ certification programme spearheaded by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), regular Covid-19 testing has been made mandatory for all tourism sector staff. DCT Abu Dhabi inspectors have checked 165 hotels and 450 restaurants and conducted over 700 inspections over a one month period
News developments
Dubai, UAE, 29 July 2020 – LexisNexis MENA and the DIFC Academy are strengthening their strategic partnership with two new initiatives: “The Annual Technology Adoption Index” and “The Legal Tech Glossary.”
These projects follow five years of fruitful collaboration, including the publication of the official DIFC Law Commentaries and Law Reports book collections. Through a joint training programme, LexisNexis MENA and the DIFC Academy have co-hosted hundreds of courses and trained thousands of legal practitioners in all areas of law.
Annual Index: The first edition of the Annual Index of Technology Adoption in Dubai’s Legal Industry will be published in October 2020. The index will measure the implementation of legal technology within law firms and in-house legal teams, and will be updated annually.
The Legal Tech Glossary: In order to increase awareness of the impact of machine learning, smart contracts, and technology tools on the practice of law in Dubai, key terms and concepts will be defined and made accessible.
Alya Al Zarouni, Executive Vice President of Operations and Head of DIFC Academy, DIFC Authority said: “During the last five years, DIFC Academy and LexisNexis have collaborated on projects which support the continued professional development for legal practitioners within and outside the Centre. It is more important than ever to prioritise technology and innovation in order to effectively increase financial and legal sector diversification and contribute to a competitive knowledge-based economy. We look forward to working in closer co-operation with LexisNexis to drive the legal sector adoption of technology and innovation.”
“We are very proud to have built the largest legal and tax information platform in the region. The Lexis(r) Middle East solution has revolutionized access to the law for all practitioners. LexisNexis is also a major global player in LegalTech and we believe that artificial intelligence will continue to have a big impact on the practice of law in the years ahead. Our strengthened partnership with the DIFC Academy will enable us to better understand local market trends and facilitate access to knowledge for the entire legal community in Dubai. It is an honour for us to have the confidence of a prestigious and influential player such as the DIFC Academy,” said Guillaume Deroubaix, Managing Director of LexisNexis Middle East and North Africa.
The objective of the partnership is to strengthen the services and the sharing of knowledge offered to the legal community in Dubai in the next few years in order to bring it to the level of excellence that Dubai’s standards require.
LexisNexis Legal & Professional is a leading global provider of legal, regulatory and business information and analytics that helps customers increase productivity, improve decision-making and outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world.
The company combines information and analytics to help lawyers manage their work more efficiently, serve their clients better and grow their practices and assists corporations in better understanding their markets.
LexisNexis is a part of RELX Group, serving customers in more than 130 countries with 10,000 employees worldwide. The company’s information network contains 3 petabytes of legal and news data with 65 billion documents.
-Ends-
