Last year was a big year for Omani legislation with the promulgation of several key laws such as the Labour Law, the Social Protection Law, and the Maritime Law. We expect the year 2024 to have major legislative developments that are similar, if not greater, than those that came out in 2023. This post will highlight some of our predictions for this year.
New Advocacy Law
The Advocacy Law of 1996 is due for its first major overhaul, and this project is at its very final stages. The new Advocacy Law is expected to widen the scope of its regulation by extending to “legal consultants” in addition to “advocates” as is evident from the name of the draft law. It is not clear what this means, but it appears to target foreign law firms operating in the Sultanate of Oman. It is also rumoured that the new Advocacy Law will have new substantive requirements for qualifying as a lawyer that are different from the apprenticeship model found in the current law.
New Civil Service Law
The new Labour Law that came out this year does not apply to the thousands of individuals employed by the government, and whose employment is governed by the Civil Service Law. We predict that the Civil Service Law will be repealed this year by the rumoured Public Office Law, which will unify the rules applying to all non-military government employees and align the rights of civil servants with the provisions of the Social Protection Law.
Executive Regulation of the Personal Data Protection Law
Companies in Oman continue to struggle to implement the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Law which came into force in 2023, but has not had its executive regulation issued until now. Due to the fact that many of the key technical details of the law are being left for the regulation, implementing the law has been impossible so far. We expect that this regulation will be issued this year.
Regulations of the Labour Law
The groundbreaking new Labour Law came out last year, but none of the regulations and decisions of the old Labour Law have been updated until now. We expect the Ministry of Labour to issue some regulations or decisions to govern a number of the new aspects of the Labour Law such as the rules and conditions relating to temporary work, part-time work, or remote work.
Executive Regulation of the Securities Law
The Executive Regulation of the Securities Law was due to be issued in 2023, but has not been issued until now. The law provides that implementation details of several issues will be governed by the regulation, such as the conditions and procedures for establishing, licensing, and registering the entities subject to the provisions of this law as well as the activities that the entities subject to the provisions of this law practise, and that require licensing or registration with the authority, and much more.
Looking Ahead
The coming year promises to be a busy year for lawyers, both in regard to the new areas of law that will be reformed as well as in regard to the actual regulation of the legal profession itself. To make sure that you do not miss any of these upcoming legal developments, make sure that you follow Decree on social media and subscribe to our Newsletter.
