Featured Insights Overview

A branded residence in Dubai combines a brand licence, a technical services agreement, a management agreement and sale documents that must align with Dubai Law No. 6 of 2019. The fee base, RERA-approved service charges and the termination and de-branding terms decide whether the brand premium survives handover.

Under the Commercial Companies Law, two UAE companies can merge by absorption or consolidation once each approves a merger contract by special resolution and creditors have had 30 days to object. Competition clearance, regulatory consents, change of control clauses and Business Restructuring Relief decide the rest of the timetable.

A disruption claim recovers the extra labour and plant cost of work made less efficient by the employer, whether or not completion is late. UAE courts and tribunals expect contractors to give notice under the contract, prove the loss with project records such as a measured mile analysis, and keep delay and disruption costs apart.

Under FIDIC, the employer releases half the retention at taking over and half after the defects period, and the final account closes through the Final Statement, discharge and Final Payment Certificate. Claims left out of the Final Statement are lost, so contractors must list every open claim and exclude live disputes before signing the discharge.

The amended DIFC Prescribed Company Regulations, in force since 24 July 2026, open the vehicle to any owner and limit its licence to holding activity. Non-exempt companies formed before that date must appoint a Corporate Service Provider by 24 January 2027 or face fines and the loss of Prescribed Company status.

The DFSA assigns every DIFC financial services firm to one of eight prudential categories based on the activities on its licence. The 2025 and 2026 amendments lowered base capital for brokers and advisers, introduced activity-based capital and changed insurance requirements, while fintech firms can test products under the Innovation Testing Licence.

Companies with no presence in the DIFC can agree in writing to the DIFC Courts under Article 14(B) of Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025. A clause that only names the courts of Dubai invites a jurisdiction challenge, and judgments against onshore assets are enforced through the Dubai Courts under Article 32.

Article 224 of the new Civil Code allows a court to reduce an obligation or rescind a contract where exceptional unforeseen circumstances make performance oppressive, and any agreement excluding that power is void. The equivalent provision for lump-sum construction contracts, Article 829(3), can be excluded, which means drafting that targets only the construction route leaves the general one intact.

A travel ban in the UAE can come from a civil court, the Execution Judge, the Public Prosecution or the Bankruptcy Court, and each carries different conditions and a different route to release. A civil ban for debt requires at least AED 10,000 and real evidence of flight risk, and the grievance period against an Execution Judge's order is seven working days.

A creditor can freeze a debtor's bank accounts, property and shares before any judgment exists, through an application to the summary judge made without notice. The order lapses automatically unless the substantive claim is filed within eight days, which is where most attachments are lost.

A buyer that discovers a problem after completing a UAE acquisition has around 18 months to notify a warranty claim, and most claims fail on the form of the notice rather than on the facts. Since 1 June 2026 the new Civil Code has added a route the SPA cannot exclude, because the duty to disclose information of decisive importance is mandatory and any clause limiting it is void.

An Emirati employee does not accrue end-of-service gratuity. They are enrolled in the federal pension scheme, and the employer must register them with GPSSA within 30 days of joining and contribute between 12.5 and 15 per cent of the contribution account salary every month. Two pension laws apply in parallel depending on when the employee first entered the workforce.

Cargo released without the original bill of lading can leave exporters unpaid and without the goods. We explain carrier liability under UAE Maritime Law, the effect of letters of indemnity, the one-year time bar and the remedies available to exporters, banks and cargo insurers.

A tribunal seated onshore in the UAE cannot award the winning party its legal fees unless the institutional rules or the arbitration clause confer that power. The Dubai Court of Cassation annulled a costs award in February 2024 and reversed itself nine months later, leaving the clause and the seat as the two things that decide the outcome.

Part 24 of the Rules of the DIFC Courts lets a judge decide a claim, part of a claim or a single issue without a trial, where the other side has no real prospect of success. A five-judge Court of Appeal applied it in 2025 to a dispute that turned on one email, while a second 2025 decision refused it because the issues depended on conduct and causation.

A UAE bank must pay against compliant documents whatever the dispute over the goods, and a court will stop payment only on conclusive proof of the beneficiary's own fraud. Six UAE decisions show the three grounds the courts accept, and why an application made after the bank pays will fail.

A foreign arbitral award is enforced in the UAE by application to the execution judge, who must decide within five working days. Between 2013 and 2022 Dubai courts refused awards over debtor domicile, unsigned pages and domestic procedural conditions, and in 2025 the Court of Cassation rejected all three.

In technical UAE commercial disputes, the court sees the case largely through the report of the expert it appoints under the Evidence Law. Objections not raised within the short window on the initial report are generally lost once the final report is filed, and a party that fails to pay the expert's deposit can lose the appointment altogether.

The DIFC Courts will freeze assets held anywhere in the world in support of proceedings running in another country, with no requirement that the parties or the assets connect to the DIFC. Three Court of Appeal decisions between 2023 and 2025 settled the jurisdiction, and Techteryx fixed the limit at whether the foreign judgment being pursued could be recognised here.

A dishonoured cheque becomes an executive instrument under Article 667 and enters the Execution Court without any prior judgment. The Federal Supreme Court confirmed in 2026 that executory force is not a final determination, so a drawer who can show the cheque was security for an obligation that never arose can have the executory formula cancelled.