Category: Monthly Digest

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant legislation issued in the previous month.

Royal Decrees

Nine royal decrees were published in May, with the most significant being Royal Decree 27/2023 Promulgating the Higher Education Law and Royal Decree 31/2023 Promulgating the School Education Law. Other noteworthy ones include royal decrees on renaming the Oman Botanic Garden, adopting the Organisational Structure of the Foreign Ministry, ratifying an Air Service Agreement with the Republic of Tajikistan, and approving the accession to the Protocol Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft.

Ministerial Decisions

Eleven ministerial decisions were published in the Official Gazette during this month, with the most significant ones being the decision of the Targeted Financial Sanctions Committee to add names to the Domestic Terrorism List, MOCIIP’s decision to abolish the fees of some services, and APSR’s decision to issue the Regulation Governing the Activity of Charging Electric Vehicles.

Blog Updates

Our blog featured a number of law updates on the new Higher Education Law, MJLA’s Updated List of Labour Law Judicial Enforcement Officers, the new School Education Law, and APSR’s EV Charging Regulation.

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant legislation issued in the previous month.

Royal Decrees

Six royal decrees were published in April, with the most significant being Royal Decree 19/2023 Promulgating the Maritime Law and Royal Decree 23/2023 regarding the Marriage of Omanis to Foreigners. The remaining royal decrees involved an amendment to the Law on Combating Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropics Substances and the declaration of public benefit status for the construction of dams in Bawshar, Al-Kamil Wal Wafi, and Liwa.

Ministerial Decisions

24 ministerial decisions were published in the Official Gazette during this month, with the most significant ones being APSR’s Water and Treated Water Supply and Wastewater Collection and Transport Services Customers Welfare Regulation, APSR’s Regulation on Accident Notification in the Water and Wastewater Sector, MOCIIP’s Regulation Governing the Practice of the Activity of Consumer Cooperative, MOSD’s Governance Regulation for Practising the Profession of Psychological Counselling and Family Counselling, and MHUP’s Decision Granting Small and Medium Enterprises Usufruct Right to Lands Owned by the State.

Blog Updates

Our blog featured a commentary article by Riyadh Al-Balushi titled “Is ChatGPT Legal Under Omani Law” exploring the relationship between copyright law and AI training, and an article by Mohamed Al-Tai titled “Five New Provisions in the Omani Maritime Law of 2023” outlining some of the key changes introduced by the new Maritime Law, along with a number of law updates on the new Maritime Law, APSR’s Accident Notification Regulation, APSR’s Water and Wastewater Customer Welfare Regulation, MOCIIP’s Consumer Cooperatives Regulation, and MOSD’s Psychological and Family Counselling Regulation.

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant legislation issued in the previous month.

Royal Decrees

Seven royal decrees were issued during March, with the most significant being Royal Decree 19/2023 promulgating the Maritime Law—the text of which will be published on Sunday in the Official Gazette—followed by Royal Decree 16/2023 Approving the Accession of the Sultanate of Oman to the Arab Charter on Human Rights. Other royal decrees include Royal Decree 15/2023 Establishing the Oman Across Ages Museum and Determining Its Competences, and Royal Decree 13/2023 Ratifying a Maritime Transport Agreement with the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Ministerial Decisions

11 ministerial decisions were published in the Official Gazette during this month, with the most significant ones being MHUP’s  Regulation for Providing Some of its Services through Engineering Offices and Engineering Consultancy Offices and APSR’s Regulation of the Prevention of Risks from Ground Works and Installations Relating to the Water and Wastewater Sector.

Blog Updates

Our blog featured a number of short law updates on MHUP introducing permits for the promotion of international real estate within Oman and the new regulation for providing some of its services through engineering offices.

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant legislation issued in the previous month.

Royal Decrees

Five royal decrees were issued during February. Three involved the appointment of an Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion, non-resident ambassadors, and Supreme Court judges. Royal Decree 10/2023 was the most significant and it related to the allocation of land for the purpose of renewable energy and clean hydrogen projects, while Royal Decree 12/2023 ratified a joint-committee agreement with the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.  

Ministerial Decisions

18 ministerial decisions were published in the Official Gazette during this month, with the most significant ones being CAA’s new Civil Aviation Executive Regulation, MOSD’s NGO Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-terrorist Financing Regulation, MOCII’s National Product Brand Regulation, MTCIT’s amendments of the Executive Regulation of the Law of Carriage by Land, and PASMED’s Riyada Card Regulation.

Blog Updates

Our blog featured this month a commentary article by Yousuf Al-Busaidi titled “Oman Doubles Down on Hydrogen” exploring the ramifications of Royal Decree 10/2022, a guest post by Dr Bader Al-Maskari titled “Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Oman: The Significance of the Reciprocity Principle” exploring article 352 of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law, along with a number of short law updates on MOL’s new job performance measurement system for civil servants, NCSI’s new Statistics and Information Regulation, MOCIIP’s new National Product Brand Regulation, CAA’s new Civil Aviation Executive Regulation, MTCIT’s amendments to the Carriage by Law Regulation, CPA’s amendment to the Executive Regulation of Consumer Protection.

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant legislation issued in the previous month.

January was a relatively slow month for royal decrees as only seven royal decrees were issued and none of them related to the promulgation or amendment of laws. The first royal decree of the year was the usual royal decree ratifying the General Budget of the State for the year 2023, this was followed by two royal decrees declaring public benefit status to construct dams in Wadi Adnoub and Wadi Annar in Dhofar, and four royal decrees ratifying the following treaties: 

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant legislation issued in the previous month.

The month of November was busy with a number of important royal decrees and ministerial decisions issued.

In regard to royal decrees, Royal Decree 70/2022 appointed Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Hinai as Oman’s first-ever Ambassador-at-Large (Sheikh Abdulaziz was more recently known for being Oman’s ambassador to the UK before this role), Royal Decree 71/2022 declared areas in the Wilayat of Yanqul as having public benefit status to allow them to be expropriated by the government for a project to develop mines in Block A1-12, Royal Decree 72/2022 approved Oman’s accession to the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to International Civil Aviation, while Royal Decree 73/2022 overhauled the organisational structure of the State Audit Institution.

In regard to ministerial decisions, many significant decisions were issued including CMA’s Decision 144/2022 on the Visitors Health Insurance Policy Form, MOCIIP’s Decision 574/2022 on the Governance Regulation for Foreign Investor Applications Approval Offices, MJLA’s Decision 113/2022 on the Code of Conduct for Experts, and TRA’s Decision 1152/2/3/2022-5 on the Regulation Governing Domain Names.

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant legislation issued in the previous month.

October was a relatively busy month on Decree as ten royal decrees were issued on a variety of topics ranging from the amendment of laws and ratification of treaties, to government restructuring and the approval of petroleum agreements.

The most significant royal decrees issued last month are arguably Royal Decree 68/2022 Amending Some Provisions of the Penal Law, which includes, among other things, the criminalisation of the act of insulting the wife and children of the Sultan, and Royal Decree 69/2022 Amending Some Provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law, which introduces a new procedure for obtaining the approval of the Council of Ministers as a pre-requisite for prosecuting ministers for criminal misconduct. Royal Decree 60/2022 was also a significant royal decree as it transferred the climate affairs competences of the Civil Aviation Authority to the Environment Authority. Other significant royal decrees include Royal Decree 61/2022 on Oman’s accession to the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, Royal Decree 66/2022 issuing a licence to Oman Technology Infrastructure Company to build and operate passive infrastructure for telecommunications towers, and Royal Decree 67/2022 approving the petroleum agreement between the Government of the Sultanate of Oman and Shell Integrated Gas Oman BV, Alizz Gas Development LLC, and Totalenergies EP Oman Block 11 SAS for Block 11.

This month also had several important ministerial decisions including Decision 456/2022 of the Tax Authority amending the Executive Regulation of the VAT Law, and Decision 164/202 of the Supreme Judicial Council determining the geographical jurisdiction of the administrative circuits in Muscat, Salalah and Sohar.

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant legislation issued in the previous month.

Two royal decrees were issued in September as summarised below:

Royal Decree 58/2022 Issuing Class I Licence to Oman Tower Company to Build and Operate Passive Infrastructure for Telecommunication Towers

Licences in the telecom sector are granted by royal decree in accordance with the provisions of the Telecommunications Law. This royal decree granted Oman Towers a licence to build and operate the passive infrastructure of telecommunication towers—which is the first and only licence of its kind granted in Oman.

Royal Decree 59/2022 Amending Some Provisions of Royal Decree 5/81 Governing the Usufruct of the Lands of the Sultanate and Its Executive Regulation

This royal decree introduced a number of amendments to the Executive Regulations of Royal Decree 5/81 Governing Governing the Usufruct of the Lands of the Sultanate of Oman, the most important of which is increasing the term of the right of usufruct of government land from 50 years to 99 years.

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In addition to the royal decrees mentioned above, several ministerial decisions were issued last month, with the following decisions being some of the most significant:

Telecommunication Regulatory Authority: Decision 1152/2/3/2022/1 Issuing the Regulation Governing the Provision of Voice or Video Telecommunications Service Over Internet Protocol

This decision creates a new framework for obtaining permits to provide VoIP and video calling services in Oman, and it imposes a set of new conditions on the providers of such services including a requirement to retain all equipment and data centres physically in Oman.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning: Ministerial Decision 192/2022 regarding the Usufruct of Land Designated for the Construction of Private School Establishments

This decision creates a new framework for granting usufruct right for the construction of private schools that sets maximum areas for the usufruct depending on the school type and the specific periods of usufruct for such uses.

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant royal decrees and laws issued in the previous month.

Two royal decrees were issued in July as summarised below:

Royal Decree 56/2022 Promulgating the System of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry

OCCI’s new system replaces OCCI’s system of 2017 and introduces a number of changes including a new structure for the OCCI board of directors in which a number of seats is now reserved for elected representatives of companies listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange and one seat is reserved for an elected foreign investor resident in Oman.

Royal Decree 57/2022 Reorganising the Oman Human Rights Commission

This royal decree issued the first comprehensive system for governing the work of the Oman Human Rights Commission, which was established in 2008. The system sets the general framework of how the commission operates and explicitly states that its decisions are made by the majority vote of the representatives of civil society on the commission.

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant royal decrees and laws issued in the previous month.

The month of June was the busiest month this year so far in terms of royal decrees with 24 royal decrees issued in a single month covering a change in the membership of the Council of Ministers, a restructuring of the judiciary, the promulgation of two new laws, the amendment of three laws, and more. The highlights of these royal decrees are as follows: