The School Education Law that was issued last month is a substantive piece of legislation that covers all aspects of school education: from the establishment of schools and the admission of students, to the rights and duties of faculty staff. An interesting provision in this key Omani law is found in article 77 stipulating that the Ministry of Education owns copyright over the books and curriculums prepared by the ministry. This is a deviation from article 4(a) of the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Law which excludes official government documents from copyright protection. This new provision in article 77 of the School Education Law will limit the ability of teachers, students, and parents to fully utilise these textbooks without providing any benefits to the Ministry of Education.
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion issued a new decision in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette that aims to simplify investment procedures and provide facilities to Omani and non-Omani investors by providing an integrated system for obtaining all approvals, permits, and licences for any investment project through the Investment Services Centre in the new Invest in Oman Lounge.
Under this new integrated system, it will be possible to obtain all government approvals, permits, and licences, irrespective of the entity from whom the approval, permit, or licence is required, from the Investment Services Centre. Government entities will be required to provide representative staff available at the Investment Services Centre with the authority to issue such approvals, permits, and licences.
This new decision has entered into force today, but it is not clear when exactly the actual integrated services will be ready to be offered at the Invest in Oman Lounge.
You can read the decision in full in English on the link below:
Being at the top of the hierarchy of laws and regulations in Oman, familiarizing yourself with the Basic Statute of the State, i.e. the constitution, is very critical. This document sets the foundational legal framework that defines the principles, structure, and governance of Oman. Without knowledge of the Basic Statute of the State, no lawyer can reasonably interpret laws effectively, contribute to the legal system, uphold rights and freedoms, or engage in legal discussions. This blog post outlines five key points that everybody needs to know about the Basic Statute of the State.
As more Omanis complete their law degrees in the UK and other common law jurisdictions, it becomes important for them to know the key laws that they should familiarise themselves with as they make the shift from academic life to professional life. This post outlines the laws that I have personally found to be extremely important in my journey in learning about the Omani legal system.
Companies in Oman are permitted to own land and real estate in special situations as prescribed by Decision 45/2021 of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning. Under this decision, Omani and GCC-owned companies may own land and real estate by way of purchase if this is necessary for them to practise their licensed activity in regard to land and real estate designated for residential commercial, commercial, industrial, and touristic uses under the controls prescribed by Decision 45/2021. These rules were changed by Decision 102/2023 of MHUP published in today’s issue of the Official Gazette to allow companies to also purchase residential real estate units in integrated residential compounds.
This new decision enters into force tomorrow.
You can read MHUP’s new Decision 102/2023 and the old Decision 45/2021 in English in full on Decree.
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Decree Monthly Digest – May 2023
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.
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APSR Issues EV Charging Regulation
The Authority for Public Services Regulation has issued a new Regulation Governing the Activity of Charging Electric Vehicles to regulate the installation and operation of EV charging points.
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Oman Issues New School Education Law
A royal decree came out this week promulgating the School Education Law emphasising the government’s commitment to realising Oman Vision 2040, which sets out education and learning as a national priority. This law is groundbreaking because it is primary legislation that creates a holistic framework for governing school education.
The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs has recently issued Ministerial Decision 51/2023, which grants judicial enforcement status to certain employees of the Ministry of Labour within the scope of the Labour Law and its secondary legislation. This decision updates Ministerial Decision 2/2013, which previously outlined the judicial enforcement officers. Ministerial Decision 51/2023 essentially comprises a list of employees who are the Labour Law judicial enforcement officers.
Judicial enforcement officers are individuals granted legal authority to investigate crimes, identify perpetrators, and gather evidence for the purpose of investigation and prosecution. Given that the Labour Law plays a crucial role in driving the economy, it is important for private sector companies to be aware of the designated judicial enforcement officers within the Ministry of Labour.
You can read the decision in full in English on the link below:
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Oman Issues New Higher Education Law
A royal decree came out last week promulgating a brand new Higher Education Law that creates a holistic framework for governing higher education in Oman as opposed to the piecemeal approach found in the previous legal framework that governed private universities, private colleges, and scholarships separately.
The new Higher Education Law repeals the System of Private Universities of 1999, Royal Decree 42/99 regarding the Establishment of Private Colleges and Higher Institutes, and the Educational Scholarships, Grants, and Aid Law of 2002, and instead creates a unified approach for governing higher education in Oman. The new law regulates both public and private sector higher education establishments collectively and provides a general framework for higher education scholarships.
Even though this new law repeals three separate legal instruments, it is relatively short as it delegates many issues to the executive regulation, especially in regard to scholarship matters, which are now merely governed by four articles in this law.
Under the new law, a private higher education establishment is required to have its facilities ready for operation within a maximum period of 5 years and to have a board of trustees separate from its board of directors. The law prohibits the chairman of the board of directors to simultaneously hold the position of the chairman of the board of trustees of the university.
The royal decree promulgating the new Higher Education Law makes no reference to Royal Decree 67/2000, which granted certain exemptions and privileges to higher education establishments, and it is not clear if these provisions still apply or were implicitly repealed by the new law, which only makes mention of the tax exemption granted to higher education establishment for a period of five years renewable for an additional five years period.
The new Higher Education Law enters into force today. It can be read in full in English at the link below: