Category: Law Updates

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning issued in this week’s Official Gazette Ministerial Decision 126/2023 Amending Some Provisions of Ministerial Decision 114/2010 regarding the Controls for Allocating Government Land to Public Majlises.

The Government of Oman has customarily given to communities land plots for public majlises, i.e. town hall like venues that are used by the community on occasions such as weddings or funerals.

According to the original Ministerial Decision 114/2010, the mulkiya of the majlis land was registered in the name of the Ministry of Finance. The new Ministerial Decision 126/2023 makes it so that the mulkiya of the majlis land is now registered in the name governorate.

Furthermore, the new decision allows for 20% of the land to be invested and that the return on the investment is used for the operation and maintenance of the majlis. This decision also permits the community to appoint an agent to be responsible for the affairs of the majlis and its investments.

You can read the decision in full in English on the link below:

The Ministry of Labour issued a new decision in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette on the Wage Protection System that codifies the rules governing the electronic system for monitoring the payment of wages of employees in the private sector.

Under article 53 of the Labour Law, employers have an obligation to pay the wages of their employees by bank transfer into the account of the employee in a locally licensed bank. This has been managed by an electronic system jointly established by MOL and CBO.

In this decision, MOL has codified the legal requirements to use the system. This decision also clarifies the cases where the employer is not required to make the payments of the wages of the employee and the administrative penalties that may be imposed on employers who violate the decision, namely a warning, suspension of preliminary work permits, and an administrative fine of 50 Rial Omani which is doubled if the penalty is repeated.

You can read the decision in full in English on the link below:

On June 20, 2023, His Majesty issued Royal Decree 41/2023, marking the country’s official entry into the General Agreement for Connecting the States of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf to the Railway Project.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion issued a new decision in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette that changes the list of prohibited activities for foreign investors by removing some activities and adding new ones. For example, the activity of specialised rehabilitation centres is removed, and the activity of marine fishing is added.

You can read the full text of the new decision 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 that aims to simplify investment procedures and provide facilities to Omani and non-Omani investors by providing an integrated system for obtaining all approvals, permits, and licences for any investment project through the Investment Services Centre in the new Invest in Oman Lounge.

Under this new integrated system, it will be possible to obtain all government approvals, permits, and licences, irrespective of the entity from whom the approval, permit, or licence is required, from the Investment Services Centre. Government entities will be required to provide representative staff available at the Investment Services Centre with the authority to issue such approvals, permits, and licences.

This new decision has entered into force today, but it is not clear when exactly the actual integrated services will be ready to be offered at the Invest in Oman Lounge.

You can read the decision in full in English on the link below:

Companies in Oman are permitted to own land and real estate in special situations as prescribed by Decision 45/2021 of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning. Under this decision, Omani and GCC-owned companies may own land and real estate by way of purchase if this is necessary for them to practise their licensed activity in regard to land and real estate designated for residential commercial, commercial, industrial, and touristic uses under the controls prescribed by Decision 45/2021. These rules were changed by Decision 102/2023 of MHUP published in today’s issue of the Official Gazette to allow companies to also purchase residential real estate units in integrated residential compounds.

This new decision enters into force tomorrow.

You can read MHUP’s new Decision 102/2023 and the old Decision 45/2021 in English in full on Decree.

The Authority for Public Services Regulation has issued a new Regulation Governing the Activity of Charging Electric Vehicles to regulate the installation and operation of EV charging points.

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:

A royal decree came out last week promulgating a brand new Higher Education Law that creates a holistic framework for governing higher education in Oman as opposed to the piecemeal approach found in the previous legal framework that governed private universities, private colleges, and scholarships separately.

The new Higher Education Law repeals the System of Private Universities of 1999, Royal Decree 42/99 regarding the Establishment of Private Colleges and Higher Institutes, and the Educational Scholarships, Grants, and Aid Law of 2002, and instead creates a unified approach for governing higher education in Oman. The new law regulates both public and private sector higher education establishments collectively and provides a general framework for higher education scholarships.

Even though this new law repeals three separate legal instruments, it is relatively short as it delegates many issues to the executive regulation, especially in regard to scholarship matters, which are now merely governed by four articles in this law.

Under the new law, a private higher education establishment is required to have its facilities ready for operation within a maximum period of 5 years and to have a board of trustees separate from its board of directors. The law prohibits the chairman of the board of directors to simultaneously hold the position of the chairman of the board of trustees of the university.

The royal decree promulgating the new Higher Education Law makes no reference to Royal Decree 67/2000, which granted certain exemptions and privileges to higher education establishments, and it is not clear if these provisions still apply or were implicitly repealed by the new law, which only makes mention of the tax exemption granted to higher education establishment for a period of five years renewable for an additional five years period.

The new Higher Education Law enters into force today. It can be read in full in English at the link below: