Saudi Arabia Archives - Page 18 of 32 - LexisNexis Middle East

Saudi Arabia: Standards for Selecting Establishments for Electronic Invoicing Announced

22/06/202322/06/2023
by Tanya Jain

Almadina, 17 June 2023: The Zakat, Tax, and Customs Authority has outlined the criteria for selecting the businesses which will be included in the sixth category of the Linking and Integrating Stage of the electronic invoicing system.

The sixth category comprises establishments which have surpassed a revenue threshold of 70 million riyals subject to Value Added Tax (VAT) between the years 2021 and 2022.

The authority has stated it will inform all the designated establishments in advance, enabling them to integrate their electronic invoicing systems with the Fatora (Invoice) platform, beginning on 1 January 2024.

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News developments

Saudi Arabia: Zakat Imposed on Finance Funds Activities

14/06/202314/06/2023
by Tanya Jain

Okaz, 6 June 2023: The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority has introduced fresh revisions to the regulations concerning the calculation of zakat on financing activities. The objective of these amendments is to include both direct and indirect financing funds within the scope of zakat calculation rules.

Under the proposed amendments, banks, financing companies authorised by the Saudi Central Bank, as well as direct and indirect financing funds licensed by the Capital Market Authority, will now fall under the purview of these regulations.

All funding sources of direct and indirect financing funds will be considered liable for zakat, except for obligations which have a maturity period of less than one year.

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News developments

The MENA Business Law Review No. 01/2023 is out!

13/06/202313/06/2023
by Tanya Jain

We are pleased to share the first edition of the MENA Business Law Review 2023, the definitive business law reference in the Middle East and North Africa!

In this edition:

PRACTICAL GUIDANCE: Contract Lifecycle Management – In-House Strategies for Effectively Delivering Technology Projects

In this article, Tarek Saad, Senior Counsel, and Tamim Momeni, Associate from Crowell & Moring LLP set out a number of general contract management recommendations and techniques that will increase a technology project’s chances of success.

CASE COMMENT: DIFC Court Hears Ground-Breaking Cryptocurrency Claim

Sara Sheffield, Max Davis, and Peter Smith from Charles Russell Speechlys share their insights on the cryptourrency claim. The Court of First Instance of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has handed down judgment following trial of a claim arising from the misappropriation of 300 bitcoins. The case touches on several of the key questions facing the courts around the world.

CASE COMMENT: Rajabieslami v. Tariverdi and others

English Commercial Court casts doubt on enforceability of English court judgments in Qatar. Sophie Eastwood and Joseph Dyke from McNair International sheds light on the case and it’s analysis.

CASE COMMENT: Administration in UAE – A Close Look into the NMC Group

In this, Hana Al Khatib from Global Advocacy & Legal Counsel (UAE) explores the introduction of the Common Law concept of “administration” in the UAE’s Civil Law System through the landmark NMC Group litigation. This legal mechanism aims to rescue distressed companies and prioritize the interests of creditors for better outcomes than liquidation.

FEATURE: The Legal Industry and the Perfect Storm

Rany Sader from SADER Publishing discusses the unstoppable transformation happening in the legal sector, comparing it to a tsunami that demands adaptation. Embracing technology, including tools that utilize big data, is crucial for lawyers to streamline their work, enhance research, and meet client demands for transparency, speed, and cost-efficiency.

FEATURE: Lawyers Must Be Agents of Change

In a thought-provoking perspective, Senior Technology Lawyer, Khaled Shivji emphasizes the need for the legal industry to wholeheartedly embrace technology and digital disruption. Discover why lawyers must seize this opportunity for transformative change.

FEATURE: ChatGPT in the Legal Industry: Balancing Potential Benefits and Limitations

Rosena Nhlabatsi, LLB, LLM, RTTP gives an overview of the benefits and limitations of Chat GPT in the legal sector.

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MENA Business Law Review | Issue 1/2023

Have you read the previous editions of the MENA Business Law Review? Click the links below to access and read previous editions.

LexisNexis MENA Business Law Review No. 01_2022

LexisNexis MENA Business Law Review No. 02_2022

LexisNexis MENA Business Law Review No. 03_2022

FEATURE: UNIDROIT Draft Principles on Digital Assets: Guidance for Law Reform in the MENA Region

Andrew Dahdal and Omran Almulla discuss the UNIDROIT Draft Principles on Digital Assets and their potential impact on law reform in the MENA Region.

FEATURE: Fintech Licensing in Dubai: Navigating Regulatory Requirements

Omran Almulla helps us navigate regulatory requirements for FinTech licensing in Dubai.

FEATURE: The Legislative Environment for Self-Driving Vehicles in the State of Qatar

Fathy Mahmoud Radwan discusses current and future legislation for Self-Driving Vehicles in Qatar.

News developments

Elevate Your Tax Expertise with the Exciting New Summer 2023 Edition of Lexis Middle East Gulf Tax!

12/06/202312/06/2023
by Tanya Jain

We are thrilled to announce the latest edition of Lexis Middle East Gulf Tax, the very first of its kind in the GCC region! Our complimentary magazine offers insightful updates on the latest tax and financial developments across the region.

In this edition:

In Comes Transfer Pricing

How will transfer pricing operate in the UAE from 1 June 2023? Alessandro Valente of Crowe explains how it will operate.

Firm Foundation on Tax

Foundations and the UAE Corporate Income Tax Regime – Foundations are often used for succession planning and charitable purposes, but it would be wrong to automatically assume they will be exempt from the UAE’s new corporate income tax law, as Alejandra Esmoris, Head of Private Clients, CVML explains.

What’s Changed? – Electronic commerce

Is your e-commerce business in the UAE compliant with new VAT reporting and record keeping requirements?

Tax News Round-Up

Stay informed about the latest updates in tax treaties and regulations throughout the region. This includes a regulatory round-up of recent changes and information on tax treaties.

Practical Focus on Customs Valuation

Customs arrangements are integral to the design of business operations in the UAE, given its heavy reliance on cross-border trade, encompassing both material exports and high levels of imports. Tax Lawyer, Patryk Karczewski, and Head of Tax, Siegert Slagman, highlight the crucial role of customs arrangements in facilitating successful trade in the UAE.

Tax Professional Profile: A Different Approach

Mourad Chatar, Managing Partner at a Consulting Firm talks about the differences between tax in the UAE and the GCC region.

Practitioner Perspective on Qatar Law No. 24/2018 (the Income Tax Law)

Rami Qudah, Practitioner at Deloitte in Qatar looks at significant recent changes to the Qatar Income Tax Law.

What are the tax benefits of SEZs and SILZs?

Nabil A Issa of King & Spalding explains the tax benefits of Special Economic Zones and Special Integrated Logistics Zones in Saudi Arabia.

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Lexis Middle East Gulf Tax | Summer 2023

Have you read the Lexis® Middle East Gulf Tax – Spring 2023 edition? Click the link below to access and read the Spring edition.

Lexis Middle East Gulf Tax |Spring 2023

News developments

Introducing the Latest Release of Lexis Middle East – HR Alert!

08/06/202314/06/2023
by Tanya Jain

We are pleased to present the May 2023 edition of Lexis Middle East – HR Alert!

Discover our complimentary HR publication, the Lexis Middle East – HR Alert, designed to keep you informed about the most recent updates in Labour and Employment Law, highlighting noteworthy cases, and offering valuable insights into region-specific HR policies and templates.

Featuring exclusive interviews with prominent HR experts from the region, this edition also provides expert guidance on emerging industry trends. Stay up-to-date and enhance your HR knowledge with the latest issue of Lexis Middle East – HR Alert.

In this edition:

Feature: The Rules of Recruitment – UAE recruitment agency obligations

Following recent announcements in the press on the regulation of UAE employment agencies, Victoria Smylie and Saher Khan of PwC Legal explain the obligations for UAE based agencies and employers who use them.

Trend Setter – Interns

Ruth Stephen, Luke Tapp, Lana Akkad and Melissa McLaren of Pinsent Masons look at the legal precautions the increasing number of employers in the MENA region who are interested in offering internship opportunities need to be aware of.

Immigration Focus: Recent GCC Immigration and Visa Changes

The dynamics team at Vialto Partners shares the latest updates from the region, including developments relating to family sponsorships, visit visa extensions, ILOE scheme in freezones, and much more.

Additionally, Dounia Fathi-Benbrahim, Senior Manager Immigration with Vialto Partners explains the role she has taken in enabling the firm’s expansion across the region from both a geographical and service perspective.

HR Profile – Energy

Sarah Tablet, Head of Human Resources for the Middle East at Siemens Energy explains how in order to support diversity it is important to tailor your approach.

Policy Pointers – Unemployment Insurance

As a leading authority in employment law, Shiraz Sethi, Partner & Regional Head of Employment at Dentons, sheds light on the scheme and emphasizes the importance of timely subscription.

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Want to learn more about Lexis® Middle East? Visit, https://www.lexis.ae/lexis-middle-east-law/.

LexisNexis-Middle-East-HR-Alert_May-2023

Have you read the Lexis® Middle East HR Alert – January and March 2023 edition? Click the links below to access and read these editions.

LexisNexis Middle East HR Alert_January 2023

LexisNexis-Middle-East-HR-Alert_March-2023

News developments

How ChatGPT and AI are Disrupting the Business of HR?

02/06/202305/06/2023
by Tanya Jain

AI is now an integral part of our everyday lives, and it is transforming the way we do business. The use of AI in Human Resources (HR) is one area that is experiencing significant growth, and ChatGPT and other similar AI products as well as new AI driven recruitment agency marketplaces are leading the way.

Analysis

ChatGPT is an AI-based language model that can generate human-like responses to text prompts. It can be used in a variety of ways, including customer service, marketing, and HR. In HR, ChatGPT can be used to streamline various tasks, including recruitment, employee onboarding, and training.

Applications

Recruitment is one of the most critical HR functions, and ChatGPT can be used to make the process more efficient. It can help HR departments via:

creating professional job descriptions based on a set of criteria and company templates
comparing CVs to job descriptions and providing a percentage match between the candidate CV and the job description,
respond to simple candidates’ queries about the onboarding process,
and more.

At the next step, employee onboarding, ChatGPT can help new hires get up to speed quickly by providing them with access to training materials and answering any questions they may have. To answer organization specific questions, AI-based language models need to be trained on the organization specific data as, out of the box, non-public company information will not be included in the AI model’s training data.

In Saudi Arabia and the GCC, the above applications are being explored carefully. For example, companies typically have no issue using ChatGPT to create job descriptions as this information typically does not have any privacy concerns associated with it when used with ChatGPT, it will be made publicly available when the position goes live. However, submitting a candidate’s CV to ChatGPT for comparison with job descriptions is a concern as it contains a person’s private information.

Although companies are in the early stages of reviewing ChatGPT applications, across Saudi Arabia and the GCC, organizations have already begun exploring other non-ChatGPT usages of AI such as carrying out sourcing through recruitment agency marketplaces which leverage artificial intelligence to match job requirements with an agency’s specialization to find the best candidates. These applications are a simple entry point for many GCC companies to begin using AI.

Intellectual Property Concerns

When using ChatGPT, it is essential to consider intellectual property (IP) considerations. If the AI system is being used to generate original content, such as training materials, it is essential to ensure that the organization has the proper rights (as described below) to use that content and also that the organization is aware that any data submitted to ChatGPT in this process can be included in its training data, which has led to data breaches at some large enterprises.

In terms of the generated content such as training materials, the legal rights to use ChatGPT’s content fall under the OpenAI API Terms of Service. According to these terms, users are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to access and use the API and any content generated by the API solely for their internal business purposes.

In Saudi Arabia, organizations can further protect their IP by registering their copyrights and trademarks with the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Commerce and Investment, however, care needs to be taken especially with AI generated content. As IP can be generated so quickly with tools like ChatGPT, and countries like Saudi Arabia follow a first-to-file IP system, this means organizations need to register IP first to have legal rights over that intellectual property. Therefore, it’s important for organizations to register their IP as early as possible to avoid potential conflicts and legal challenges in the future, especially inventions core to their business.

In the last months we have seen the attempts by individuals to register inventions by AI as owned by the AI system itself. For example, a computer scientist Stephen Thaler created an AI system called DABUS to create new inventions (e.g. beverage holder and emergency light beacon) and then applied for patents on these inventions under DABUS’ name. This has led to patent rejections in a number of countries such as:

Australia
UK (still under appeal at the time of writing)
New Zealand
USA (rejected by US Supreme Court on 24th of April)

In Saudi Arabia, however, a decision has not been made as to whether the AI system DABUS can be the inventor. Hence, caution needs to be taken when dealing with AI generated intellectual property.

Ownership and Liabilities

Regarding authorship of materials produced using ChatGPT in Saudi Arabia, the answer will depend on the specific circumstances. Most organizations in Saudi Arabia have moral and legal rights to all works created by an employee as part of their employment. If this is not the case, then in some cases, the employee who inputs the prompts may be considered the author.

For example, if an employee of a company uses ChatGPT to generate content for a personal project, they may be considered the author of the resulting work, and they would have the copyright ownership of that content. However, if the employee is using ChatGPT to generate content as part of their job responsibilities or if the content is created using company resources, the organization may be considered the author of the work and own the copyright to the resulting content.

If inaccuracies are present in the material produced by ChatGPT or similar AI products in Saudi Arabia, the potential liability will depend on who is responsible for the inaccuracies. If the inaccuracies are a result of the AI system itself, the liability may lie with the organization that developed the system. However, if the inaccuracies are a result of employee input, the liability may lie with the employee who entered the incorrect information. This also is an area of flux.

The New Future

ChatGPT and similar AI products are revolutionizing the way HR departments operate in Saudi Arabia and the GCC. However, it is essential to consider IP considerations and ownership of content when using these systems. Additionally, organizations must have clear guidelines in place regarding liability for inaccuracies to avoid any legal issues and ensure they protect their data during the usage and training of such systems.

Written by Dr Evan Shellshear.

Dr Evan Shellshear is the Managing Director and Group CEO of Ubidy, an innovative global recruitment marketplace connecting employers to specialist agencies, and an expert in artificial intelligence with a Ph.D. in Game Theory from the Nobel Prize winning University of Bielefeld in Germany. He has almost two decades of international experience in the development and design of AI tools for a variety of industries having worked with the world’s top companies on all aspects of advanced analytical solutions from optimisation to machine learning in applications from HR to oil and gas, and robotics to supply chain. He is also the author of the Amazon best seller, Innovation Tools.

News developments

Saudi Arabia: Shura Examines Feasibility of Establishing Commodities Exchange Market

01/06/202301/06/2023
by Tanya Jain

Argaam, 29 May 2023: Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council has requested the Capital Market Authority to assess the viability of creating a commodities exchange market in the country.

This decision was made after taking into account the input from the Financial and Economic Committee and the feedback from council members on the annual report of the Financial Market Authority.

Additionally, the Council has instructed the authority to evaluate the effectiveness of awareness programs pertaining to corporate governance and to examine the reasons behind the rise in reports against listed companies.

For the full story, click here.

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News developments

May/June 2023 edition of Lexis Middle East Law Alert Now Out!

26/05/202330/05/2023
by Tanya Jain

Introducing the latest edition of our complimentary law magazine, the Lexis® Middle East – Law Alert! Stay up-to-date on the latest legal, financial, and fiscal developments and hot topics in the MENA region.

In this edition, we examine why amendments to Saudi Arabia’s personal data regime were needed and what might be their impact, recent legal and tax developments, virtual asset regulations, and more.

Feature: What’s Different with Data? Amendments to the Saudi Personal Data Protection Law

Nick O’Connell, Partner, Digital & Data, Al Tamimi & Co explains why amendments to Saudi Arabia’s personal data regime were needed and what might be their impact.

Legal Round-Up: Covering Recent Key Legal Developments (Region-Wide)

Stay up-to-date with the latest legal developments in the region! Our legal round-up includes all the essential news so that you can stay well-informed.

Tax and Finance Round-Up: Covering Recent Key Tax and Finance Developments (Region-Wide)

Stay up-to-date on the key developments from the region and never miss out on the latest happenings.

Feature: Nothing to Hide – The Qatari Anti-concealment Law

Omar Qouteshat of Sultan Al Abdulla & Partners explains results the impact the Qatar Anti-Concealment Law can have when non-Qataris are engaged in commercial activities there.

In-House Profile: Talent and Energy

Elizabeth Dunne Chandler Legal and Commercial Director – Middle East, UK and Europe NES Fircroft explains how the switch to renewable energy is impacting her work and making cross-border employment legislation more important.

Practitioner Perspective:

Thomas Wigley of Trowers and Hamlin looks at the practicalities of bringing foreigner experts into Oman. And sheds light on the implementation of Oman Sultani Decree No. 35/2003 On the Promulgation of the Labour Law provides the framework for private sector employment in Oman.

Movers & Shakers: A Round-Up of the Top Appointments and Promotions

Check out our latest round-up of the top movers and shakers from the world of legal appointments and promotions, brought to you by Jameson Legal. Who’s been promoted, who’s been appointed and who’s moving on? Find out now!

Dispute Resolution Focus: Cases and Updates

Hashem AlAidarous, Partner at Al Aidarous, qualified in three jurisdictions, explains
the differences between dispute resolution in the UAE, the US and Australia.

Contract Watch: Is It Asymmetric?

Aleefa Ahmed, from Associate Afridi & Angell, explains asymmetric jurisdiction clauses (or unilateral option clauses) for parties bringing their proceedings in front of a jurisdiction and what options are available for them.

Thanks to Jameson Legal for supporting individuals and businesses, and Al Aidarous for keeping us updated on dispute resolution cases.

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Lexis Middle East Law Alert May-June 2023

Lexis Middle East Law Alert January-February 2023

Explore the past editions of the Lexis® Middle East Law Alert and stay up-to-date with the latest news! Click the links below for instant access to older editions.

Lexis Middle East Law Alert October-November 2022

Lexis Middle East Law Alert_July-August 2022

News developments

Saudi Arabia: Health Professional Classification and Registration Draft Regulation Published for Consultation

26/05/202326/05/2023
by Tanya Jain

Alwatan, 23 May 2023: The Saudi Commission for Health Specialties has released a draft update for the Health Professional Classification and Registration on the National Centre for Competition platform.

The Commission’s objective is to engage both the private and public sectors by seeking their input to enhance the experience and expertise of its members.

The draft aims to revise the existing list and its accompanying rules, which were initially published in 1438 Hijri. It also seeks to clarify the criteria and prerequisites for professional classification and registration in alignment with the authority’s strategy to enhance standards.

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News developments

Saudi Arabia: Rules for Practicing Customs Clearance Profession Adopted

04/05/202304/05/2023
by Benjamin Filaferro

Okaz, 2 May 2023: The Governor of Saudi Arabia’s Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority has approved new rules for practicing the profession of customs clearance for the year 1444Hijri, replacing the previous guide issued on 20/6/1439Hijri.

The rules aim to document procedures and requirements related to the profession, define customs business stages for goods passing through ports, and classify activities with necessary conditions to carry out each activity.

The rules also specify license issuance and renewal for a duration of three years.

For the full story, click here.

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