Category: Law Updates

The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) issued last week the Regulatory Framework for Digital Banks. This regulatory framework sets the requirement for establishing a digital bank, creates two categories for digital banks, sets minimum capital requirements, restrictions on the activities for different digital bank categories, and progressive Omanisation percentages that increase over a period of five years, licensing conditions, and the requirements to present a business plan to obtain the license, among other things.

The Ministry of Social Development published in this weeks issue of the Official Gazette a new Governance Regulation of Social Welfare Institutions that aim to provide welfare services to the elderly.

The regulation covers matters such as the objectives of welfare homes, the conditions for admitting an elderly person to an elderly home, the conditions for volunteering at a welfare home, and the actions to be taken when an elderly person dies in a welfare home.

It is worth noting that the MOSD issued late last year a Governance Regulation of Temporary Welfare Institutions that aims to provide services for women, children and victims of human trafficking.

The new Governance Regulation of Social Welfare Institutions enters into force tomorrow. You can read in full in English on the link below:

Last month, the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology (MTCIT) issued Oman’s first policy for governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. This policy was issued in the form of a circular, and therefore it is not a strictly binding legal document published in the Official Gazette.

The new Advocacy and Legal Consultancy Law entered into force earlier this month and has brought with it substantial changes to the way the legal profession operates in Oman. One of these key changes requires advocates to complete different sets of exams and continuous development programmes to move up the rolls of advocates for different court levels.

A new Electronic Transactions Law was issued last week, repealing the Electronic Transactions Law of 2008 and carefully refining the scope to which electronic transactions can be relied upon in Oman.

The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs published the executive regulation of the new Advocacy and Legal Consultancy Law in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette. This new regulation introduces further controls on the practice of the legal profession in Oman and provides implementation details for the Advocacy and Legal Consultancy Law.

The new Financial Law was published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette repealing the Financial Law of 1998.

Last week, a new Law of Special Economic Zones and Free Zones was issued replacing the 20+ years old Law of Free Zones. The new law covers traditional free zones, such as the Sohar Free Zone, as well as the more comprehensive special economic zones, such as the Special Economic Zone at Duqm.

The new Omani Nationality Law was published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette which repeals the Omani Nationality Law of 2014 and lowers the requirements for obtaining Omani nationality.

The Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology (MTCIT) published Decision 6/2025 in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette extending the deadline for complying with the provisions of the Executive Regulation of the Personal Data Protection Law by one additional year.

Entities subject to this regulation were originally required to comply with its provisions by February 2025, and this new amendment changes this deadline to February 2026.

Even though this technically relates to the Executive Regulation and not the actual Personal Data Protection Law, which in theory entered into force in February 2023, the extension of the deadline for complying with the executive regulation effectively means that neither the law or the regulation will not be enforced in Oman until February 2026.

You can read the consolidated version of the Executive Regulation of the Personal Data Protection Law by clicking on the link below: