The year 2023 had some of the biggest legal developments in Oman in recent years, with the promulgation of many critical laws such as the Labour Law, the Social Protection Law, the Maritime Law, and many more. This blog post provides an overview of the most significant royal decrees that came out this year.
Author: Mohamed Al-Tai
I am the Legal Counsel at Decree. I am responsible for all legal and corporate matters of the company, including acting as secretary of shareholders' meeting and negotiating and finalizing subscription agreements with corporate clients. I have previously worked for the Omani government and for a state-owned enterprise in the aviation industry.
The Tax Authority (TA) published in this week’s Official Gazette Ministerial Decision 521/2023 Amending Some Provisions of the Executive Regulation of the Value Added Tax Law. This decision adds a new article 196bis, which provides for new additional cases in which VAT can be refunded that are set out in the schedule attached to the decision.
The Environment Authority (EA) published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette Decision 107/2023 Issuing the Regulation Governing Environmental Permits that provides a new simplified framework for obtaining environmental permits for all commercial activities.
The Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM) issued in this week’s Official Gazette Ministerial Decision 36/2023 Amending Some Provisions of the Executive Regulation of the Mining Law. These amendments include provisions on social contribution under a new chapter numbered Fivebis.
Mining licensees are now obligated to contribute 1% of their total annual production for local community development. This amount, calculated and collected by MEM, is passed to the Ministry of Finance within five working days and subsequently allocated every three months to the development budgets of the offices of the governors. It should be noted that in the event that the licence area includes more than one region, the social contribution is disbursed based on the assessment of the governor depending on the need of the region.
The amendments state that social contribution amounts are earmarked for sustainable and local community-based projects, which include supporting youth activities and environmental projects.
The amendments entered into force on 14 August 2023.
You can read the amendments in full in English on the link below:
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion issued a new decision in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette on the combatting of concealed trading.
The decision defines the term “concealed trading” as enabling a person to engage in an activity that the laws of the Sultanate of Oman do not allow him to engage in, whether for his own account or in association with others. Accordingly, the decision identifies the parties involved in concealed trading: The concealer who is the person that enables concealment, and the concealed trader who is the person that benefits from the concealment.
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Oman Issues New School Education Law
A royal decree came out this week promulgating the School Education Law emphasising the government’s commitment to realising Oman Vision 2040, which sets out education and learning as a national priority. This law is groundbreaking because it is primary legislation that creates a holistic framework for governing school education.
The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs has recently issued Ministerial Decision 51/2023, which grants judicial enforcement status to certain employees of the Ministry of Labour within the scope of the Labour Law and its secondary legislation. This decision updates Ministerial Decision 2/2013, which previously outlined the judicial enforcement officers. Ministerial Decision 51/2023 essentially comprises a list of employees who are the Labour Law judicial enforcement officers.
Judicial enforcement officers are individuals granted legal authority to investigate crimes, identify perpetrators, and gather evidence for the purpose of investigation and prosecution. Given that the Labour Law plays a crucial role in driving the economy, it is important for private sector companies to be aware of the designated judicial enforcement officers within the Ministry of Labour.
You can read the decision in full in English on the link below:
As can be seen from our overview post of the new Omani Maritime Law, this law is massive and makes many changes to the way the maritime industry is governed. In this post, we will highlight five key changes introduced by this major legal instrument:
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Oman Issues New Maritime Law
The promulgation of the new Omani Maritime Law last month was definitely one of the most significant legal developments in the Omani legal system of this year. This law repeals the Maritime Law of 1981 and the Maritime Navigation Law of 1981. The new Maritime Law is massive and is composed of 9 parts and a total of 387 articles. This blog post will provide an overview of the content of each of the 9 parts of the new law.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Water Resources has issued the Executive Regulation of Veterinary Medicines, which is issued pursuant to the Law of Veterinary Medicines of 2017.
The regulation is based on the GCC Executive Regulation of Veterinary Medicines which was approved by the GCC Agricultural Cooperation Committee in 2011.
The regulation provides the specific details regarding licensing and registration of veterinary medicines companies and factories, the duration of the licence, the requirements of the application, general specifications regarding factories, and the obligations of the licence holder.
The regulation also covers the registration of veterinary medicines and provides details regarding the supply of samples, the examination of the registration application, the classification of veterinary medicines, and the obligations imposed on local and foreign factories.
Finally, the regulation outlines the competences of registration committees, the powers of the ministry to ban or suspend the circulation or import of veterinary medicines, and the procedures for the destruction of violating medicines.
You can read the regulation in full in English on the link below: