Organise Your Workflow with Pinned Conversations

Managing multiple research threads is now easier than ever. Your conversation list is now divided into Pinned and Recent sections, so your high-priority projects stay front and center.

• Conversations Controls: We’ve added a simple “hold and press” gesture. Just long-press any conversation to pull up a menu of options to Rename, Delete, or Pin/Unpin your chats.
• Search Within Chats: No more endless scrolling. You can now use the search bar within your conversation history to instantly find specific topics or past advice.

Smart Notifications for Deep Research

Because our new agentic search performs deep synthesis of Omani legislation, complex answers can take a moment to generate. You no longer need to wait inside the app. Simply submit your query and switch to other tasks and Lex AI will send a push notification to your phone and allows you to receive notifications on the desktop as soon as your response is ready.

These updates are live for all users on both iOS and Android as well as the web version of Lex AI. Update your app on the App Store or Google Play Store to get started.

This blog post will highlight five key attributes of this agreement:

1. CEPA is a Free Trade Agreement

A CEPA at its core is a free trade agreement, which is an agreement that focuses on eliminating tariffs on the import of goods and services between countries. A CEPA attempts to be more comprehensive by incorporating additional matters such as collaboration in the area of SMEs and other topics between countries.

2. Oman-India CEPA is the biggest treaty that Oman has ever signed

Based on word count and the number of pages of the agreement, This agreement is the biggest and longest agreement that Oman has ever taken part in.

3. The treatment of goods and services between the two countries under the CEPA is asymmetrical

While most bilateral agreements provide equal treatment between the two countries, CEPA adopts a more delicate approach as the treatment of goods differs between the two countries so that, for example, one good would be exempt from tariffs going into country A, but not exempt from tariffs going into country B. This is intended to ensure that countries domestic businesses are not affected by the provisions of the agreement.

4. Oman-India CEPA allows the presence of some employees of service providers to stay in Oman for periods upto four years

One of the unique aspects of the Oman-India CEPA is the treatment of the employees of service providers which will be allowed in specific cases to allow them to enter Oman and stay for a period of up to two years extensible for an additional period of two years. It is worth noting that this applies to a specific category of employees, such as senior managers and those with special technical skills, and not all the employees of the service provider.

5. Oman-India CEPA has not entered into force

Oman-India CEPA was signed in December 2025 and ratified by Oman in February 2026. For the treaty to enter into force, both Oman and India are required to complete their legal formalties and communicate to each other that the treaty is effective from their side. At the time of writing this post, India has not published any updates on completing its internal procedures to commence the implementation of the treaty. However, it is expected for this to take place in the upcoming months.

Conclusion

Oman-India CEPA is one of the most significant treaties that Oman has ever signed, and it is expected to have significant implications on the relationship between the two countries, but also on how business is conducted in Oman in general.

You can read the text of this treaty in full in English on the link below:

Written by:

Nouf Al-Lamki

Nouf is a legal intern at Decree. She has previously interned in the banking sector, the aviation sector, and in private practice. She is interested in corporate. She holds a LLB from the Modern College of Business and Science.

1. Electronic Signatures Carry Full Legal Weight 

Under the Electronic Transactions Law, electronic signatures and documents are legally equivalent to their paper-based counterparts. Article 8 of the Electronic Transactions Law explicitly states that an electronic document is deemed a written document and produces its legal effects if it meets the technical conditions. Furthermore, article 20 confirms that electronic contracts have the same validity, enforceability, and evidentiary power as traditional contracts.

2. Three Levels on Signatures

The law categorises electronic signatures into three types, each with different levels of security and evidentiary reliability:

1. Simple Electronic Signature

This is the most basic form which includes letters, numbers, codes, symbols, or any other mark placed on an electronic document or transaction. A simple electronic signature is reliable evidence if it meets the provisions stipulated in article 11 of this law, and any concerned party may prove by any means that this signature is reliable.

2. Advanced Electronic Signature

A step up in both security and legal standing, this signature must be unique to the signatory and capable of identifying and distinguishing them from others. For it to qualify as reliable evidence, three conditions must be met. The creation tool must be linked solely to the signatory and under their control at the time of signing. Any alteration to the signature after signing must be detectable. And where the signature’s purpose is to confirm data integrity, any changes to the associated electronic information must also be detectable. As with simple signatures, reliability can still be proven through other means.

3. Qualified Electronic Signature

Sitting at the top of the hierarchy, this is an advanced electronic signature that meets the same conditions as the advanced signature but is additionally linked to an electronic authentication certificate. That extra layer of verification gives it the highest degree of trust and legal reliability under the law.

3. Trust Services Require Official Licensing

Article 24 of the law identifies a range of trust services that form the foundation of secure electronic transactions. These include the issuance of electronic authentication certificates, qualified electronic signatures, electronic seals, verification of electronic identity, electronic delivery services, and any other services the ministry may specify.

According to article 25 no entity may provide these services without obtaining a licence from the ministry, subject to the conditions and procedures set out in the regulation. The only exception is for closed internal systems, where an entity processes electronic information or data entirely within its own structure without interacting with third parties or handling external transactions.

Furthermore, article 26 confirms that these licences cannot be partially or wholly assigned, and a provider cannot suspend its services or merge with another provider without the ministry’s prior approval.

4. Misuse Carries Heavy Penalties

The law sets out a clear scale of punishments under articles 31 through 37. Penalties range from fines of 100 Rial Omani and one month’s imprisonment for obstructing authorised officers, up to fines of 50,000 Rial Omani and five years’ imprisonment for operating trust services without a licence. Legal persons face double the maximum fine, and courts may confiscate all devices, tools, and funds connected to the offence. Furthermore, the ministry can also impose administrative fines of up to 2,000 Rial Omani for violating the law or the regulation.

Conclusion

This blog post provided some of the key provisions of the Electronic Transactions Law. We highly recommend that those working in e-commerce and digital business familiarise themselves with this law.

You can read the full text of the Electronic Transactions Law in English on Decree on the link below:

Written by:

Raghd Al-Hosni

Raghd is a legal intern at Decree. She has previously interned in the energy sector and the telecom sector. She is interested in corporate law. She holds a LLB from the Liverpool John Moores University.

Pick up where you left off You can now access your previous chats at any time. Whether you’re returning to a complex query from yesterday or double-checking a summary from last week, your entire research history is now at your fingertips.

Organize and declutter To help you stay focused, we’ve added tools to customize your conversations list:

• Rename Chats: Give your conversations specific titles (e.g., “Labor Law Compliance” or “RD 53/2023 Analysis”) so you can find them instantly.

• Delete Conversations: Easily remove old threads to keep your research area clean and relevant.

These features are designed to make Lex AI not just a search tool, but a long-term partner in your legal workflow.

This decision is the latest in a series of moves by the FSA to align Oman’s financial sector with internationally recognised standards. Earlier last year, the FSA issued Decision E/2/2025, which made IFRS the mandatory model for preparing and auditing financial statements in Oman. The latest decision extends that same approach to sustainability, requiring companies to disclose how climate and sustainability-related risks affect their business.

Both standards must be fully applied from 1 January 2029, with the exception of scope 3 under IFRS S2, which covers indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and which must be applied from 1 January 2030. The FSA will also issue forms to guide companies through implementation. Failure to comply can result in penalties ranging from a warning to being struck off the Accountants and Auditors Register.

This decision comes into force as of tomorrow. You can read the text of the decision in full on the link below:

Financial Services Authority: Decision E/7/2026 Adopting the Two International Standards on Sustainability Disclosures

Building on the transition to a fully agentic search model that we recently launched on the web, this update fundamentally changes how Lex AI operates on mobile. It is no longer just about returning data quickly; it is about superior depth and reasoning. By shifting to an agentic model, the assistant now intelligently navigates Decree’s vast database of Omani legislation with a higher level of autonomy. This results in unprecedented precision when pinpointing exact legal provisions or case summaries. For complex, multi-layered queries, the system utilizes its deeper retrieval capacity to synthesize large volumes of information, providing the comprehensive context required for high-stakes legal work.

We have also introduced a mobile-specific shortcut to make your on-the-go research even more efficient. You can now retrieve specific legislation instantly by its identifier, simply ask Lex AI about any Royal Decree by its number (e.g., “Royal Decree 53/2023”) and the agentic engine will immediately locate and break down the specific decree for you.

This update ensures that whether you are at your desk or on the move, you have access to the same level of legal intelligence and reliable data retrieval you’ve come to expect from the new Lex AI.

These new agentic features have been updated directly on our backend, so you are not required to update your app to see these changes. However, if you haven’t downloaded the Decree app yet, you can do so now on the App Store or Google Play Store to take the next generation of Omani legal research with you wherever you go.

Powered by Advanced Agentic Search

The core of this update is Lex AI’s transition to a fully agentic search model, which fundamentally upgrades its ability to intelligently navigate and locate relevant information across Decree’s extensive database of Omani legislation. This agentic capability provides an extremely powerful research experience by offering unprecedented accuracy and a precise ability to pinpoint exact legal provisions and case summaries. It also features a deeper retrieval capacity to synthesize a larger volume of relevant information for complex queries, alongside highly accurate number and data retrieval to ensure you can trust the details in your legal research.

Seamless Conversation History

Legal research is rarely a single question and answer. To better support your workflow, we have added a comprehensive Conversation History feature. You can now easily pick up where you left off by going back to review previous chat conversations. Additionally, you can manage your workspace by renaming individual chats to quickly find specific research topics, and you can delete old conversations you no longer need.

Front Page Access

We have made Lex AI even easier to access. If your subscription includes Lex AI, the assistant will now appear directly on the front page of Decree. You can begin querying our legal database the moment you log in, without having to navigate to a separate page first.

These new features are currently available on the web-based version of Lex AI. They will be added to the mobile version very soon.

Lex AI is available as an add-on to your standard Decree subscription. We highly encourage Decree members to log in today and experience the power and precision of the new agentic search firsthand. If you do not currently have Lex AI on your plan but would like to explore how it can transform your workflow, we would be happy to set up a trial. Please find our contact details here to request a trial.

Bringing the Update to You

• Synced Features: Android users now have the same “Browse Legislation” view recently introduced on iOS.
• Latest Decrees on the Go: View Royal Decrees and Ministerial Decisions directly within the app as they are published.
• Search & Find: Use the new search functionality to pinpoint specific content without switching back to your desktop.

Get Started

The update is available now for all users with a subscription bundle that includes Lex AI.

Download or update the Decree app from the Google Play Store today to bring your legal research into full alignment.

Download on Google Play here:

Tracking these announcements manually through the Official Gazette and daily newspapers is tedious and leaves too much room for human error. The Decree API solves this by giving your software programmatic, real-time access to official Omani liquidation, merger, and dissolution announcements.

Who is this for?

The API is built for any organisation extending credit or services to Omani companies:

• Banks & Lenders: Automatically cross-reference active commercial loans against daily “Liquidation Start” announcements to instantly alert your recovery team.
• Utility Providers: Automatically flag corporate accounts entering dissolution to halt services and initiate immediate debt collection.
• B2B Suppliers: Continuously monitor client lists for “Dissolution and Merger” announcements. If a client is being acquired and dissolved, your finance team gets an immediate heads-up to either transfer the debt to the new acquiring company or lodge a formal creditor objection before the statutory deadline expires.

Technical Highlights

The Decree API is a RESTful service designed for seamless integration:

• Simple & Predictable: Uses standard X-API-Key authentication (1,000 requests/day limit) and returns clean JSON data.
• Actionable Payloads: Whether it’s a “Liquidation Start” or “Dissolution and Merger” event, the API hands you exactly what you need to act: the company’s Commercial Registration (CR) number, names in English/Arabic, publication date, and contact info.
• Secure by Design: To protect your highly confidential client lists, the best practice is to use the GET /announcements/recent endpoint to pull daily updates. This allows your system to cross-reference CR numbers locally, ensuring your customer data never leaves your internal network.

You can view the full documentation of Decree API with examples of use on our API page.

Decree API is a separate service from the subscription service of Decree. Use the link below to contact us if you are interested in learning more about this powerful service:

Violating the PDPL can result in fines ranging from 500 Rial Omani to 500,000 Rial Omani depending on the nature of the violations as specified by the provisions of articles 25 to 29 of the PDPL.

Minor Violations

The smallest penalty under the PDPL is a fine between 500 and 2,000 Rial Omani if a person violates article 14 of the law, which requires a data controller to notify a data subject in writing of a specific set of information prior to processing the personal data.

Moderate Violations

The next scale of penalties is a fine between 1,000 and 5,000 Rial Omani, which is imposed if a person violates articles 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, or 22 of the law. Examples of such violations would be the failure to appoint an external auditor to verify that the processing is conducted in accordance with the law.

Serious Violations

If a person violates the provisions of article 13, a fine will be imposed against them between 5,000 and 10,000 Rial Omani. This article is violated if a data controller fails to put in place controls and procedures required to comply with data processing requirements, such as controls for determining the risks that a data subject is exposed to when their personal data is processed.

Major Violations

Higher fines are imposed for those who violate the provisions of articles 5, 6, 19, and 21 that range between 15,000 and 20,000 Rial Omani. Violations that can result in such fines include processing sensitive personal data, such as the processing of fingerprints, without the prior permission of the MTCIT.

Grave Violations

The biggest fine under the law, and probably one of the biggest fines in the whole Omani legal system, is the fine imposed when someone violates the provisions of article 23, which can result in a fine between 100,000 and 500,000 Rial Omani. This fine will be imposed when a person processes personal data outside the Sultanate of Oman in violation of the law.

Conclusion

The penalties imposed under the Personal Data Protection Law are extremely serious and can go up to 500,000 Rial Omani. It is highly recommended that all companies make themselves familiar with the Personal Data Protection Law by reading it on the link below:

Written by:

Wedd Al-Zadjali

Wedd is a legal intern at Decree. She has previously interned in a local law firm as well as in a telecom company. She holds a BSc in Criminal Justice and Criminology from the University of Portsmouth.