The Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette a new Working System of Oman Commercial Arbitration Centre (OAC) that replaces the Working System of OAC of 2019.
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Intel Update: November 2023
Decree Intel is a database of original Omani legal research material that provides explanatory notes, overview of government entities, and summaries of Supreme Court cases and MJLA Fatwas.
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Case Summary: Supreme Court (Commercial Circuit) Contestation 796/2016 (Insurance Duty of Disclosure): A debtor obtained a loan from a bank without disclosing that he was permanently totally disabled. The bank insured the loan after it was given. The court held that the insurer was not responsible for the repayment of the loan because the accident that caused the disability took place before the term of the policy, and the debtor was ordered to repay the loan in full with interest.
Case Summary: Supreme Court (Labour Circuit) Contestation 665/2016 (Rotational Working System): An Omani employee working on a 2-week on 2-week off rotational system sued his employer for refusing to compensate him for working during national holidays. The Supreme Court ruled that he was not entitled to compensation on the grounds that the working system of the employer, in terms of working hours and working days, was more favourable overall than the system prescribed by the Labour Law, and therefore, the failure to compensate the worker for the national day holidays is not deemed a valuation.
Overview of the Ministry of Finance: The Ministry of Finance (وزارة المالية) is the body responsible for all the financial affairs of the government, including preparing the annual budget of the state and approving major government contracts.
Overview of Oman Investment Authority: The Oman Investment Authority (جهاز الاستثمار العماني) is the sovereign wealth fund of the government of the Sultanate of Oman and is the body responsible for managing, developing, and investing certain assets of the state.
In accordance with article 17 of Law of Majlis Oman, His Majesty called the brand new members of Majlis Al-Shura for an extraordinary session to be held today 9 November 2023 to elect the new chairman and the two deputies of the chairman of Majlis Al-Shura for its tenth term. On this occasion, we are writing this blog post to explore the role that Majlis Al-Shura plays in the Omani legal system, its structure, and its function. If you are interested in the upper house of Majlis Oman, i.e. Majlis Al-Dawla, you can learn more about it in our previous blog post.
His Majesty Sultan Haitham promulgated yesterday a royal decree appointing the new members of Majlis Al-Dawla—the upper house of Majlis Oman, we thought that this would be an appropriate moment to write a blog post exploring the structure and functions of this important entity in the Omani legal system.
: Majlis Al-Dawla: Structure, Function, and RoleDecree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant updates on Decree in the previous month.
Royal Decrees
Three royal decrees were issued in October, the first two promulgating the Public Debt Law and the Tourism Law, and the third appointing new ambassadors.
The Tax Authority (TA) published in this week’s Official Gazette Ministerial Decision 521/2023 Amending Some Provisions of the Executive Regulation of the Value Added Tax Law. This decision adds a new article 196bis, which provides for new additional cases in which VAT can be refunded that are set out in the schedule attached to the decision.
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The new Omani Public Debt Law
Oman’s first ever Public Debt Law was promulgated last week and was made available to the public in the Official Gazette today. This new law mostly provides a general governance framework of how the government plans to make decisions regarding the management of public debt and introduces a limited set of actual controls on government debt.
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New Tourism Law Issued
The full-text of the new Tourism Law was published in the Official Gazette today replacing the old Tourism Law of 2002. The new law simplifies the legal framework for tourism by abolishing the National Tourism Committee as well as the Tourism Development Fund, consolidates the various concepts for tourism offices and tour guides into tourism activities, removes references to the timeshare system, and increases the value of the fines that can be imposed against those who violate the law.
The Ministry of Heritage and Tourism (MOHT) published in this week’s Official Gazette Ministerial Decision 1152/1/2/255/2023 Amending Some Provisions of the Executive Regulation of the Tourism Law. This decision amends article 117 of the regulation concerning tourism fee fines.
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CAA Issues new Drone Regulation
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette a new Regulation Governing the Activity of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones) that replaces the Regulation Governing Practising the Aerial Activity and Aerial Works Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle of 2020.