The Public Debt Law provides a general governance framework of how the government plans to make decisions regarding the management of public debt and introduces controls on government debt. This new regulation provides a more specific set of rules for implementing this law.

The Executive Regulation of the Public Debt Law provides comprehensive details on the procedures and controls for contracting public debt, the role of the MOF in approving and managing debt operations, and other requirements that apply to government debt and government guarantees. Most importantly, the executive regulation sets restrictions on the ability of OIA subsidiaries to borrow money, and requires the OIA to obtain the approval of the MOF in regards to certain transactions. The regulation also imposes other obligations on the OIA such as reporting requirements.

The Executive Regulation of the Public Debt Law has already entered into force. You can read it in full in English on the link below: 

You can read the circular in full in English below:

This regulatory framework is issued pursuant to article 9 of the Banking Law, was issued by a circular, and not a decision that was published in the Official Gazette. This regulatory framework entered into force at the beginning of this week.

You can read the Regulatory Framework for Digital Banks in English in full on the link below:

To start with, it is worth noting that the Advocacy and Legal Consultancy Law governs the work of law firms, and has no implications for legal professionals working as legal advisors in companies and other organisations, such as banks, telecom companies, or any other corporation. This means that restrictions imposed on foreign lawyers who wish to work as advocates or as legal consultants in a law firm do not apply to foreign lawyers wishing to work as in-house counsel.

The Old System

Under the previous legal framework, Oman prohibited foreign lawyers from appearing before its courts. However, this did not stop law firms from hiring foreigners in roles such as “legal advisors” and “legal experts,” without registering them with the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, to provide legal advice without appearing before any court. This practice was tolerated by the government, even though it would be considered in the grey zone at best.

Advocacy Offices and Legal Consultancy Offices

The new Advocacy and Legal Consultancy Law made substantial changes to the way law firms operate in Oman by introducing two distinct types of legal entities: advocacy offices and legal consultancy offices. Advocacy offices can offer all forms of legal services, including litigation services and can only hire Omani advocates. Legal consultancy offices can offer legal services and arbitration services, but not litigation before Omani courts, and can hire both Omani and foreign legal consultants.

The Executive Regulation of the Advocacy and Legal Consultancy Law also added additional requirements for recruiting foreign lawyers in legal consultancy offices, the most important being that a foreign lawyer must have at least five years of experience to be registered as a legal consultant.

Even though the law now allows foreigners to be formally registered with the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, the law allows Omanis only to be the owners of a legal consultancy office. In addition to the ability of foreigners to register as legal consultants in Oman, the law now has a formal framework for establishing partnerships between Omani and foreign law firms and for establishing branches for foreign law firms. Under Article 64 of the law, foreign participation in legal consultancy is permitted through the establishment of a new office in partnership with an Omani legal consultancy firm, but not with an Omani advocacy firm. This means that a foreign law firm cannot form a formal partnership with an Omani law firm that provides litigation services.

Branches of Foreign Law Firms

Furthermore, the law now also allows foreign law firms to establish branches in Oman without any local partners. However, this is only permitted for law firms that have branches in three other countries and have been established for at least fifteen years. However, it is worth noting that the lawyers working in the Omani branch must fulfil the requirements for the registration of legal consultants. This means that the branch would only be able to hire foreign lawyers who have at least five years of experience.

In addition to these tightly controlled entry mechanism for foreign law firms and the practice of foreign lawyers, the law contains a narrow exception under article 17 that permits foreign advocates—whether from Arab or non-Arab countries—to appear before Omani courts in a specific lawsuit as long as the foreign lawyer is working in partnership with an Omani advocate and as long as there is a reciprocity arrangement exists between Oman and the home country. The approval of the Chairman of the Advocates and Legal Consultants Affairs Committee is also required. This unique provision appears to be reserved for unique cross-border cases and is unlikely to apply to foreign lawyers residing or practising in Oman on a permanent basis.

Conclusion

The new Advocacy and Legal Consultancy Law and its executive regulation provide new opportunities for foreign lawyers to practice in Oman and will transform the legal industry. You can read the law and its executive regulation in English in full on the links below:

Written by:

Zainab Al-Lawati

Zainab is a legal intern at Decree. She has previously interned in various sectors including the government, private practice, the banking sector, and the energy sector. She is interested in commercial and corporate law. She holds an LLB from the University of Bristol.

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:

We are also launching today new automation tools for generating OLCS compliant citation. You can now use a Citation Assistant on the OLCS website to easily generate legislation, cases, and fatwas citations. A similar feature has also been added to the free Decree Chrome Extension to allow you to quickly generate citations directly from your browser toolbar.

You can view the OLCS and use our new tools on the link below:

We previously wrote a blog about this policy in August of last year, when it was still at the public consultation stage. Now that the AI governance framework has officially been issued, it’s worth noting that, as expected, the MTCIT has chosen to release it as a non-legally binding policy. While this means that it does not impose fines or include enforcement mechanisms, this approach has its advantages as it allows for flexibility and encourages voluntary compliance without imposing serious restrictions on the adoption and experimentation of this cutting edge technology.

Furthermore, as predicted in our blog on the implications of the EU AI Act for Oman, the EU’s regulatory approach had an influence on Oman’s approach in governing AI. While the MTCIT’s AI governance framework is non-legally binding (unlike the legally binding EU AI Act), it borrows several concepts from the EU AI Act, particularly in regard to the distinction between the obligations of AI system providers and AI system deployers.

The policy sets a general framework of technical controls and ethical principles that both public and private sector entities need to take into account to when developing or deploying AI systems. Those ethical principles include considering humanity and societal well-being, inclusivity, fairness, and responsibility when developing or deploying AI systems. This policy also includes provisions on periodic evaluation of AI systems for accuracy, bias, and harmful content; implementing human oversight for crucial AI decisions and their societal impact; ensuring deployed AI systems provide tangible benefits; adhering to data protection laws, restricting data use with robust security and cybersecurity best practices, and documenting AI processes for transparency.

The policy has already entered into force on 9 April 2025. You can read it in full in English on the link below:

– Lex AI is now fully conversational and appears as a chat thread to make it easier for the user to continue conversing with Lex. Even though the original version of Lex had conversational capabilities, the tool behaved more as a single question single answer tool.

– Lex AI question box now allows you to insert a larger amount of text that appears as a paragraph block. The original version of Lex accepted a smaller amount of text that was limited to a single line in the search box.

– Lex AI now lets you copy the text using a share button under each response message. This is useful for individuals who need to use the answers generated by Lex.

– To improve the quality of the answers, Lex by default will not include in its analysis any repealed law. If the user wishes for repealed laws to be considered, the user would have to check a new box for this above the chat box message. This is usually necessary for comparing differences between an old and a new law.

– We also made some technical improvements to the logic of Lex to improve the quality of the answers.

Decree members on all membership bundles have free access to Lex AI until the end of May. If you have not used it until now, we highly encourage you to do so. Please make sure to use the vote buttons to help us improve the service.

The constitution of the Sultanate of Oman, formally known as the Basic Statute of the State, is the supreme legislative document in the country. It governs the operation of the institutions of the state and determines the relationship of the states with all individuals while providing structure and clarity on the operation of the government. The Basic Statute of the State was issued by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos through Royal Decree 101/96 in the year 1996 as a gift to the people of Oman. Since then, it was amended twice, in 2011 and 2021. This blog post will outline the status of the legal system before 1996, before outlining the changes made to the Basic Statute of the State throughout the years.

Legal System Pre 1996

Prior to the issuance of the Basic Statute of the State in 1996, Oman had a sophisticated and codified legal system that started from the accession of Sultan Qaboos into power in 1970, including legal instruments that governed the operation of the government, an elected Shura Council, and a robust court system. However, Oman did not have a single comprehensive legal system that clearly determined the duties of the Sultan, the Council of Ministers, and the duties and responsibilities of the state and the citizens.

The Basic Statute of the State of 1996

The Basic Statute of the State was issued as the first Omani constitution by Royal Decree 101/96. This document declared Oman as an independent Arab state, affirmed Islam as the religion of the land, and stipulated that Arabic is the official language of the state. It set the rules for accession through the secret will system, defined the concept of separation of powers within the Omani context, and determined the rules of the Sultan, the duties of the state, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens, among many other constitutional matters.

The First Amendment of the Omani Constitution

Sultan Qaboos amended the Basic Statute of the State only once in the year 2011 as a response to the events of the Arab Spring. The amendments that were made were precise and specific, and they strengthened the powers of the Council of Oman, i.e. the Omani parliament, by enhancing its oversight powers over the legislative process and monitoring government performance.

Modernising the Constitution in 2021

Following his accession in 2020, Sultan Haitham issued a new Basic Statute of the State by Royal Decree 6/2021 which retained an extremely similar structure to the Basic Statute of the State of 1996, but made significant changes to the succession process by establishing a legal framework for the appointment of a crown prince and removing the secret will mechanism that was found in the original Basic Statute of the State.

Conclusion

The Basic Statute of the State marked a major milestone in Oman’s modern history, establishing the foundation of structured and stable governance. Since its establishment in 1996, through the amendments made in 2011, and the modernisation in 2021 it has evolved to meet the demands of the Sultanate of Oman and continues to be an essential component of the country’s development.

You can read the Basic Statute of the State in full in English free of charge on the link below:

Written by:

Sara Al-Badi

Sara is a legal intern at Decree. She has previously interned in the Public Prosecution and in private practice. She is interested in commercial and corporate law. She holds an LLB from Cardiff University.

Book Two of the Basic Statute of the State is divided into four chapters: Political Principles (article 13), Economic Principles (article 14), Social Principles (article 15), and Cultural Principles (article 16). These articles provide a comprehensive framework for governing the internal and external duties of the state, its role in ensuring welfare and justice, and its responsibility to promote education, culture, and heritage.

Article 13: Political Principles

The political foundation of the Sultanate of Oman is rooted in the preservation of sovereignty, security, and independence. This article outlines the duty of the state to safeguard its stability and uphold its statehood. Furthermore, it emphasises foreign policy grounded in mutual respect, non-interference, and compliance with international charters and treaties. Importantly, it calls for governance systems based on shura, derived from islamic sharia and omani values, while endorsing modern administrative practices that ensure justice and equality for all citizens.

Article 14: Economic Principles

This article defines the economic visions of the state. It stipulates that the State guarantees economic freedom within a framework of social justice, where public and private sectors cooperate for development. This article also prescribes that the state retains ownership of natural resources and is mandated to manage them in line with public interest and the law, that the state is meant to encourage investment, regulate savings and credit, and protect both public and private property, among other economic duties.

Article 15: Social Principles

Justice, equality, and opportunity are enshrined as pillars of society. Article 15 highlights the significance of national unity and family values while requiring the state to guarantee equality between women and men, and to provide care for children, youth, and the disabled. Social security, emergency aid, and healthcare are legal guarantees, as is the state’s role in environmental protection. Article 15 also affirms “work” as a right and an honour, and stipulates that no citizen may be forced into employment except by law under specific conditions.

Article 16: Cultural Principles

Education is identified by article 16 as a fundamental right, with objectives including the development of national identity, scientific thinking, and civic values. According to this article, primary education must be made compulsory, while higher education is to made accessible based on merit. The state promotes literacy, supports scientific research, and guarantees the independence of academic institutions.

Conclusion

Book Two of the Basic Statute does more than provide aspirational goals; it sets binding constitutional standards that define Oman’s governance model. These provisions offer a robust and interlinked framework for how the state must function, interact with its citizens, and position itself in the international community. The articles reflect a clear legal intent: to build a just, stable, and forward-looking society rooted in Omani identity and Islamic values, yet open to modern and global engagement.

You can read the Basic Statute of the State in full in English free of charge on the link below:

Written by:

Zainab Al-Lawati

Zainab is a legal intern at Decree. She has previously interned in various sectors including the government, private practice, the banking sector, and the energy sector. She is interested in commercial and corporate law. She holds an LLB from the University of Bristol.