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Law Updates

New Law Combatting Human Trafficking Issued

A new Law Combatting Human Trafficking was issued in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette replacing the Law Combatting Human Trafficking of 2008.

The Law Combatting Human Trafficking of 2025 adds new detailed definitions for human trafficking concepts that were not defined in the previous law, such as sexual exploitation and forced labour. The law also criminalises new trafficking activities such as deporting and detaining of humans in the context of human trafficking. The punishments under the law have also been increased so that the maximum prison sentence for general offences is increased from 7 to 10 years.

The Law Combatting Human Trafficking of 2025 has already entered into force. You can read it in full in English on the link below:

Law Combatting Human Trafficking
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Law Updates

MOL New Remote Work Regulation

The Ministry of Labour published in yesterday’s issue of the Official Gazette Ministerial Decision 523/2025 Regarding the Governance of Remote Work which sets the general rules for remote work in Oman.

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Announcements

Introducing: Lex AI “Spotlight”

We are releasing today Lex AI Spotlight, a major new feature to Decree’s artificial intelligence legal research assistant that allows Decree members to ask Lex AI questions about the specific item that they are already viewing.

For example, when a member views the Personal Income Tax Law, a new Ask Lex button will appear on the corner of the page. The user can use this command to ask questions about the Personal Income Tax Law without having to query Decree’s entire database. This process is usually faster and can provide more accurate answers when the user needs information from a single specific item.

When Lex AI Spotlight is unable to find the answer in the currently viewed item, the user will be advised to use the full version of Lex AI.

Lex AI and Lex AI Spotlight are available through a bundle subscription to Decree. They are available for free for all Decree members on all subscription plans for the whole of the month of September.

You can try Lex AI Spotlight on most pages on Decree, including the Personal Income Tax Law, the Penal Law, the Personal Data Protection Law, and many more.

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Article

FSA issues the Regulation Governing the Rising Companies Market

The Financial Services Authority issued a new Regulation Governing the Rising Companies Market in today’s issue of the Official Gazette. The Rising Companies Market was established earlier this year by royal decree as a market dedicated for supporting the growth of small and medium companies and startups.

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Announcements

Lex AI on GPT-5

Lex AI, Decree’s artificial intelligence legal research assistance, receives a major update today by upgrading to GPT-5, the new cutting-edge artificial intelligence model from OpenAI.

Lex AI generates its answers exclusively from Decree’s database of translated Omani legislation and case summaries while providing full citations and references for all answers generated. Using GPT-5, Lex AI now runs at a faster speed and provides significantly improved analysis of Decree’s content to answer user questions, summarise the law, and create compliance checklists.

Decree members with access to Lex AI can try the new and improved Lex AI on the link below:

Lex AI
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Article

4 Differences Between the Personal Data Protection Law and the Personal Data Protection Policy

Data protection is the legal framework that protects personal data from unauthorised access and uphold individual privacy. The two main instruments governing this area of law in Oman are the Personal Data Protection Law (and its executive regulation) and the Personal Data Protection Policy of the Units of the Administrative Apparatus of the State. While there are similarities between the two, this article will highlight four major differences most people don’t know.

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Law Updates

MOL New Decision on Employee Pay Annual Increment

The Ministry of Labour published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette Decision 317/2025 Determining the Minimum Periodic Allowance and Governing Its Disbursement to Omanis Working in the Private Sector. This new decision sets new mandatory rules for determining the minimum annual pay increment that employees subject to the Labour Law are entitled to.

Prior to this new decision, employees subject to the Labour Law were entitled to a 3% annual increment on their basic wage as long as the performance of the employee is not deemed “poor”.

Under the new decision, the percentage of the annual increment can range between 5% and 2% depending on the performance of the employee, and can be withheld completely if the performance of the employee is deemed “poor”.

This obligation is imposed in relation to Omani employees only. Employers found in violation of this decision are to be fined 50 Rial Omani for each employee against whom a violation is committed.

The decision also provides some grounds for suspending the implementation of the annual increment in general as we all rules for withholding the increment for individual employees.

This new decision enters into force tomorrow. You can read it in full in English on the link below:

Ministry of Labour: Ministerial Decision 317/2025 Determining the Minimum Periodic Allowance and Governing Its Disbursement to Omanis Working in the Private Sector
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Article

Four Differences Between LLCs and SPCs

Companies in Oman are governed by the Commercial Companies Law and its regulations, such as the Commercial Companies Regulation. These legal instruments set the foundation for how to establish, operate, and manage companies in the Sultanate of Oman. Among the various legal forms of companies are Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) and Single Person Companies (SPCs), also known as One-Person Companies, which are the most commonly used forms due to the simplicity of the formalities for establishing them and the fact that they both offer their shareholders limited liability. This article will highlight four key distinctions between LLCs and SPCs.

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Article

7 Types of Leave Under the Omani Labour Law

The Omani Labour Law lays out a comprehensive framework that regulates the rights and obligations of employers and employees. Under this law employees are entitled in certain circumstances to different types of leave that are usually given with full pay. In this article, we will highlight 7 of the most commonly used types of leaves under the Labour Law.

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Law Updates

Social Protection Law Amended

His Majesty issued today Royal Decree 60/2025 amending Royal Decree 52/2023 to delay the implementation of certain branches of the Social Protection Law.

Under the original royal decree the branch of insurance against work injuries and occupational diseases for non-Omani workers was supposed to enter into force in July 2026, today’s royal decree pushed this date to July 2028. Similarly, the branch of insurance of sick leave and extraordinary sick leave was supposed to enter into force in July 2025, it has now been pushed to July 2026. Finally, the savings system was supposed to enter into force in July 2026, and now it will enter into force in July 2027.

You can read Royal Decree 60/2025 in English in full on the link below:

Royal Decree 60/2025 Amending Some Provisions of Royal Decree 52/2023 Issuing the Social Protection Law