Confidentiality

Arbitration has the key advantage of confidentiality in its proceedings, where no unrelated party has access to hearings or any related documents. Contrary to that, in traditional courts, all court hearings are public unless an application is submitted under specific circumstances, regulated by the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law, which most commercial cases do not fall under. This can jeopardise sensitive information included in the contract or the dealings in dispute.

Choice of Language

Traditional courts are bound to deal only in the Arabic language, if the dealings and paperwork are in any other language a certified translation of the document must be submitted instead. Arbitration on the other hand is versatile when it comes to the choice of language, the parties have the choice to select the language in which the arbitration can be conducted. This can, for example, allow the parties to conduct the arbitration in English if they wish to.

Governing Law

Similar to the choice of language, in arbitration, the law gives the parties the power to choose the governing law that is used to decide on the matter of the dispute. It is very common to see arbitrations all around the world that are governed by English law. In traditional courts, you are bound by the governing law of the Sultanate and the parties to do not have the power to change this law.

Selection of Judges and Arbitrators

The selection of Judges is outside the control of the party litigating in traditional courts. On the other hand, arbitration allows the parties choose the number, criteria, and the actual arbitrators that will decide on the matter in dispute. This may be more efficient if the case has many technicalities, in this case the arbitrator can be an expert in the same field instead of traditional courts employing an expert themselves. 

Conclusion

Arbitration provides many advantages through its flexibility and customisability to suit business needs. I highly recommend anyone interested in business disputes to familiarise themselves with the Law of Arbitration in Civil and Commercial Disputes.You can read it in full in English on the link below:

Written by:

Al-Julanda Al-Rashdi

Al-Julanda is a Legal Intern at Decree. He has previously interned in international and Omani law firms in addition to interning in an in-house legal team in the banking sector. He is interested in commercial law and banking law. He holds an LLB from the University of South Wales.

1. Utility Models

Utility models provide protection to novel inventions that have a sufficient inventive step and are capable of industrial application. This form of protection is very similar to patent protection, but the required degree of inventiveness is lower. The protection of utility models lasts up to 10 years.

Utility models are not very famous because the inventions they protect are of a lower degree of inventiveness. There are many example of inventions that are protected by utility models, such as the “Nissin Cup Noodle” which offers an inventive way of making cup noodles but falls below the required level for patent protection.

2. Industrial Design

Industrial design right protects the 3D design of a product, whether with or without colours if the designs offers a unique and special appearance that can be recognised distinctively. It is important to note that design right does not protect the technical functionally of the product and only covers its aesthetic and design. The design right can be protected for periods of 5 years that can be renewed up to 15 years.

For example, Christian Dior registered the design of the bag seen in the image below in Official Gazette 1613.

3. Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits (Semi-conductors)

The right of a layout design of an integrated circuit protects the topographical design of a silicon chip for layout designs that are original. The protection lasts for up to 10 years.

The legal framework has provided for this protection since 2008, however we have not been able to locate the registration of a layout design in Oman.

4. Geographical Indications

Geographical indications protect the names or indication that identify goods as originating from a specific location. Geographical indications are similar to trademarks and their protection can last indefinitely. For example, in theory, geographical indications can be used to protect the name “Omani Halwa” so that it is used to refer to halwa made specifically in Oman and to prohibit others from calling halwa made elsewhere Omani.

Conclusion

These were only some of the example of industrial rights protected by Omani law. It is highly recommended that you familiarise yourself with the full text of the Omani Industrial Property Law. You can read it in English in full in the link below:

Written by:

Abdullah Al-Azri

Abdullah is a Legal Intern at Decree. He has previously interned in an international and in an Omani law firm. He is interested in corporate law and holds an LLB from the University of Sheffield.

This regulation supplements the Executive Regulation of the System of the Ownership of Real Estate in Integrated Tourism Complexes by adding new obligations to developers, buyers, and owners in Jebel Sifah Resort. Some of the new key obligation for developers under the new regulation include obligations to use an escrow account, appoint an independent audit office, and insure all units.

This new Jebel Sifah Resort Regulation enters into force tomorrow. You can read it in full in English on the link below:

The Law Combatting Human Trafficking of 2025 adds new detailed definitions for human trafficking concepts that were not defined in the previous law, such as sexual exploitation and forced labour. The law also criminalises new trafficking activities such as deporting and detaining of humans in the context of human trafficking. The punishments under the law have also been increased so that the maximum prison sentence for general offences is increased from 7 to 10 years.

The Law Combatting Human Trafficking of 2025 has already entered into force. You can read it in full in English on the link below:

The new decision sets employer and employee obligations in the remote work environment. Employer obligations including matters such as providing the equipment required for remote work and bearing the costs for their installation and maintenance as a default position unless agreed otherwise with the worker. The new decision also prohibits employers from violating the privacy of their workers when employers monitor the performance of remote workers. Workers also have obligations under this new decision such as an obligation to carry out the work assigned to them during the agreed working hours.

One of the most interesting aspects of this MOL decision is that it only recognises remote work conducted within the Sultanate of Oman and prohibits employers from hiring workers working remotely outside the Sultanate. This, of course, has no restrictions on the ability of an employer in the Sultanate of Oman to hire independent contractors working remotely outside the country, the law merely does not recognise this as employment under the Labour Law.

The Ministry of Labour Decision 523/2025 Regarding the Governance of Remote Work has already entered into force. You can read it in full in English on the link below along with our compliance toolkit:

For example, when a member views the Personal Income Tax Law, a new Ask Lex button will appear on the corner of the page. The user can use this command to ask questions about the Personal Income Tax Law without having to query Decree’s entire database. This process is usually faster and can provide more accurate answers when the user needs information from a single specific item.

When Lex AI Spotlight is unable to find the answer in the currently viewed item, the user will be advised to use the full version of Lex AI.

Lex AI and Lex AI Spotlight are available through a bundle subscription to Decree. They are available for free for all Decree members on all subscription plans for the whole of the month of September.

You can try Lex AI Spotlight on most pages on Decree, including the Personal Income Tax Law, the Penal Law, the Personal Data Protection Law, and many more.

This regulation allows closed joint stock companies (SAOCs), referred to as rising companies in the regulation, to be listed on the Rising Companies Market. The regulation provides that rising companies can be listed in the market either through direct listing or indirect listing if the rising company meets the requirements for the method it wishes to be listed through.

This new regulation paves the way for SAOCs to increase their capital and opportunities of investments from serious and qualified investors, and it can be seen as a way of encouraging LLCs to become SAOCs and be listed on the Rising Companies Market.

This decision comes into force as of tomorrow. To learn more about the Regulation Governing the Rising Companies Market, you can read it in full in English on the link below:

Lex AI generates its answers exclusively from Decree’s database of translated Omani legislation and case summaries while providing full citations and references for all answers generated. Using GPT-5, Lex AI now runs at a faster speed and provides significantly improved analysis of Decree’s content to answer user questions, summarise the law, and create compliance checklists.

Decree members with access to Lex AI can try the new and improved Lex AI on the link below:

Scope of Application

The biggest difference between the two instruments is their scope. The policy applies to personal data held by the government while the law applies to everyone else. This is peculiar because government entities are amongst the largest retrievers of personal data (the government collects data for public services such as healthcare and education) and they should be held accountable under the law, which as will be shown below has more obligations and restrictions.

Legal Effect

Although policies in Oman are expected to be followed, they are not legally binding, and merely serve as guidelines. Accordingly, while the Personal Data Protection Law is legally binding, the Personal Data Protection Policy is not. This means that the provisions of the policy serve as recommendations rather than being required to be followed.

Nature of Rights

The personal data protection legislation is usually comprehensive, as it covers the rights of the data subjects, obligations of data controllers, and the means by which data is received and transferred. These areas all covered in the Omani Personal Data Protection Law in great detail, but only vaguely outlined in the Personal Data Protection Policy, which serves to offer practical guidelines for the procedures of implementing the concepts of data protection.

Data Protection Officer

Under the Personal Data Protection Law, it is mandatory to appoint a data protection officer (DPO) as an expert who upholds the integrity of data processing and keeps their respective entity in check. Lacking a DPO is illegal, and could potentially invite heavy fines. No such mandate is found in the Personal Data Protection Policy, which is problematic since government entities are exempt from the law. This weakens accountability, proficiency, and leads to inconsistent data processing methods.

Conclusion

These were four important differences between the Personal Data Protection Law and the Personal Data Protection Policy. It must be noted that entities are expected to comply with both legal instruments by 2026.

It is highly recommended that you review these two important legal instruments down below. You can read these two documents in full in English at the link below:

Prior to this new decision, employees subject to the Labour Law were entitled to a 3% annual increment on their basic wage as long as the performance of the employee is not deemed “poor”.

Under the new decision, the percentage of the annual increment can range between 5% and 2% depending on the performance of the employee, and can be withheld completely if the performance of the employee is deemed “poor”.

This obligation is imposed in relation to Omani employees only. Employers found in violation of this decision are to be fined 50 Rial Omani for each employee against whom a violation is committed.

The decision also provides some grounds for suspending the implementation of the annual increment in general as we all rules for withholding the increment for individual employees.

This new decision enters into force tomorrow. You can read it in full in English on the link below: