The Personal Data Protection Law originally issued under Royal Decree 6/2022 was amended for the first time last week by Royal Decree 68/2026. This blog post will highlight the key amendments made to the PDPL.
Category: Law Updates
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Mineral Resources Law Amended
This week’s issue of the Official Gazette included Royal Decree 69/2026 Amending Some Provisions of the Mineral Resources Law. The amendment includes changes to how licences are granted, the conditions for granting a concession, and the penalties for violating the law.
On 9 July 2026, Oman’s Ministry of Labour issued Ministerial Decision 284/2026, replacing the recently repealed Ministerial Decision 500/2018 and overhauling the rules for labour unions, trade unions, and the General Federation for Workers. The Ministerial Decision predominately focuses on the unions themselves, including governance, elections, and registration. Across its eight chapters, however, the decision lays out a specific set of duties imposed on employers. This blog will outline exactly what Ministerial Decision 284/2026 requires of employers, and where those requirements differ to those set out under the old rules of Ministerial Decision 500/2018.
When the Tourism Law was issued by Royal Decree 69/2023, it left the details to a regulation to be issued by the Minister of Heritage and Tourism. For roughly two years, the old 2016 Executive Regulation kept running in that gap. The gap has now closed, in April 2026 the Minister issued a brand-new Executive Regulation of the Tourism Law, which came into force on 17 April 2026 and replaces the 2016 text entirely. Businesses already holding tourism licences have six months to bring themselves into line with it.
The regulation organises the sector into six licences: operating or managing a tourist or hotel establishment; travel and tourism offices (and branches of foreign tourism companies); tourist guidance; adventure tourism; high art performance groups in hotels and restaurants; and business tourism. The last two stand out. Adventure tourism, everything from off-road desert driving and mountain trekking to caving, canyoning, and ziplining, now has its own licence and a dedicated annex listing exactly which activities are covered. Business tourism, meaning conferences, exhibitions, and corporate incentive trips, is recognised as a licensed activity in its own right.
Under the old regulation, if the ministry sat on a licence application for 60 days, that silence counted as a rejection. The new regulation flips this; the ministry has 60 days to decide, and if it says nothing, the application is deemed accepted. For a sector that lives or dies on getting projects open, this reversal is the most consequential single change in the regulation.
Tourist guiding in English remains reserved for Omanis. Guides are split into general, locational, and specialised categories, must keep groups to no more than 30 people at a site, and are barred from discussing politics or religion or from working in military, border, or customs zones without permission. Adventure tourism operators carry the heaviest safety burden: an Omani licence-holder, a security and safety audit certificate, insurance issued inside Oman, a licensed specialist guide on every trip, risk and safety management plans, and a duty to cancel outings when bad weather is forecast.
Several licence fees have actually come down; a five-star hotel licence now costs 1,900 Rial Omani for three years, against the previous 3,200 Rial Omani for five years. Establishments still collect a 4% tourism fee for the ministry and an 8% service charge, but the service charge must now be paid out to staff in cash. Administrative fines in the regulation are capped at 6,000 OMR.
You can read the new Executive Regulation of the Tourism Law in full in English on the link below:
This week’s issue of the Official Gazette included the full text of the new Law of the Real Estate Registry issued by Royal Decree 56/2026. This law replaces the previous Statute of the Real Estate Registry issued by Royal Decree 2/98, and it is part of the ongoing reform of the legal framework of real estate in Oman.
Last week, His Majesty established by Royal Decree 50/2026 a special economic zone named the Artificial Intelligence Special Zone. With the advancements of AI in our society, the need for this special zone is fundamental. Questions might be asked: What is the legal status of a special zone? How will it be operated? How is this zone different from the recently established International Financial Centre of Oman (IFCO)? We will discuss all this in this blog post.
The National Geospatial Data and Information Law was published under Royal Decree 43/2026. Even though the title of the law includes geospatial data, the bulk of the law speaks to surveys and the production and use of the map of Oman.
The law gives the National Survey and Geospatial Information Authority, which is a department of the Ministry of Defence, broad oversight over geospatial matters in the country. For example, you need permission from the authority to conduct surveys, to produce any map or atlas, to export geospatial data outside Oman, or to use the maps of Oman commercially.
Failure to comply with this law results in penalties up to 3 years of imprisonment and fines up to 30,000 Rial Omani.
Entities affected by the law have 6 months from its entry into force to bring themselves into compliance.
You can read the National Geospatial Data and Information Law in full in English on the link below:
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FSA Adopts IFRS S1 and IFRS S2
The Financial Services Authority published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette Decision E/7/2026 adopting IFRS S1 and IFRS S2, the international sustainability disclosure standards, for listed public joint-stock companies and financial institutions in Oman.
This decision is the latest in a series of moves by the FSA to align Oman’s financial sector with internationally recognised standards. Earlier last year, the FSA issued Decision E/2/2025, which made IFRS the mandatory model for preparing and auditing financial statements in Oman. The latest decision extends that same approach to sustainability, requiring companies to disclose how climate and sustainability-related risks affect their business.
Both standards must be fully applied from 1 January 2029, with the exception of scope 3 under IFRS S2, which covers indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and which must be applied from 1 January 2030. The FSA will also issue forms to guide companies through implementation. Failure to comply can result in penalties ranging from a warning to being struck off the Accountants and Auditors Register.
This decision comes into force as of tomorrow. You can read the text of the decision in full on the link below:
His Majesty issued last week a royal decree establishing the International Financial Centre of Oman (IFCO) as a new financial free zone. IFCO will operate as an independent legal jurisdiction with its own executive authority, regulatory body, and court system that is not subject to oversight by the Council of Ministers, the Council of Oman, or the Omani judiciary. The location of IFCO is designated by royal decree as Madinat Al-Irfan. This blog post explains what a financial free zone is, the criteria for registering a company in IFCO, why companies might wish to register there, the key limitations for operating out of IFCO, and the next steps before this new financial free zone actually operates.
The Ministry of Labour published in this week’s of the Official Gazette Ministerial Decision 574/2025 Issuing the Governance Regulation for the Work of Domestic Workers and Their Equivalent, which marks a significant regulatory shift, enlarges the scope of protection, and enhances the rights of domestic workers. This decision replaces the former Ministerial Decision 189/2004 regarding the Terms and Conditions of Employment for Domestic Workers.