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Law Updates

MHUP Issues Regulation for Providing Some of Its Services through Engineering Offices

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning issued the Regulation for Providing Some of Its Services through Engineering Offices to allow these offices to provide planning and survey services to the public on behalf of the ministry.

Under this regulation, MHUP services relating to detailed cadastral survey of land plots; modification of approved land plots; placement and delivery of markers for approved land plots; merging, splitting, and dividing approved land plots; and issuing a certificate of completion of the implementation of service routes may be provided by engineering offices and engineering consultancy offices, provided that they obtain a certificate from MHUP to provide these services.

The regulation specifies the procedures and requirements for obtaining the certificate, the rights of service applicants, the consequences of committing violations by the engineering offices, and the mechanism for sharing the fees between MHUP and the engineering offices.

This regulation entered into force on 20 March 2023.

You can read the regulation in full in English on the link below:

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Law Updates

MHUP Introduces Permits for the Promotion of International Real Estate Within Oman

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning issued Ministerial Decision 38/2023, which amends schedule 12 of the Regulation of Values, Fees, and Prices Collected by the Ministry of Housing. This amendment adds a new item to schedule 12 for applying through the electronic system to obtain a permit for the promotion of international real estate within Oman. The fee for issuing this permit amounts to 500 Rial Omani.

The amendment came into force on 13 March 2023.

You can read the amendment in full in English on the link below:

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Monthly Digest

Decree Monthly Digest – February 2023

Decree Monthly Digest is a summary of the most significant legislation issued in the previous month.

Royal Decrees

Five royal decrees were issued during February. Three involved the appointment of an Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotionnon-resident ambassadors, and Supreme Court judges. Royal Decree 10/2023 was the most significant and it related to the allocation of land for the purpose of renewable energy and clean hydrogen projects, while Royal Decree 12/2023 ratified a joint-committee agreement with the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.  

Ministerial Decisions

18 ministerial decisions were published in the Official Gazette during this month, with the most significant ones being CAA’s new Civil Aviation Executive Regulation, MOSD’s NGO Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-terrorist Financing Regulation, MOCII’s National Product Brand Regulation, MTCIT’s amendments of the Executive Regulation of the Law of Carriage by Land, and PASMED’s Riyada Card Regulation.

Blog Updates

Our blog featured this month a commentary article by Yousuf Al-Busaidi titled “Oman Doubles Down on Hydrogen” exploring the ramifications of Royal Decree 10/2022, a guest post by Dr Bader Al-Maskari titled “Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Oman: The Significance of the Reciprocity Principle” exploring article 352 of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law, along with a number of short law updates on MOL’s new job performance measurement system for civil servants, NCSI’s new Statistics and Information Regulation, MOCIIP’s new National Product Brand Regulation, CAA’s new Civil Aviation Executive Regulation, MTCIT’s amendments to the Carriage by Law Regulation, CPA’s amendment to the Executive Regulation of Consumer Protection.

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Law Updates

CPA Issues Amendments to the Consumer Protection Executive Regulation

The Consumer Protection Authority has issued an amendment to the Executive Regulation of the Consumer Protection Law. The amendment gives authority to the ministries to propose to the Council of Ministers amendments to the Consumer Protection Regulation, and if these amendments are approved by the Council of Ministers then the CPA has a legal obligation to issue these amendments.

Prior to this amendment the Council of Ministry had the authority to propose amendments, this new amendment makes it clear that all relevant entities can propose amendments to the Council of Ministers in this regard.

You can read the amendments in full in English on the link below:

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Guest Post

Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Oman: The Significance of the Reciprocity Principle

This guest blog post is contributed by Dr Bader Al-Maskari – Assistant Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research at the College of Law in Sultan Qaboos University.

Similar to most jurisdictions around the world, the enforcement of foreign judgments is a complicated matter in Oman in the absence of a bilateral treaty for the mutual recognition of judgments. Under Omani law, the enforcement of civil and commercial judgments is governed by article 352 of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law promulgated by Royal Decree 29/2002. This article examines one of the key elements required by article 352: reciprocity in the enforcement of Omani judgments in the jurisdiction from which the judgment sought to be enforced is made.

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Law Updates

MTCIT Issues Amendments to the Carriage by Land Regulation

The Ministry of Transport, Communication, and Information Technology has issued amendments to the Executive Regulation of the Law of Carriage by Land. The amendments place special emphasis on installation of tracking systems on licensees for transporting goods. This obligation extends to vehicles not registered in Oman, when they enter or transit through its lands.

The regulation sets out an administrative penalty if the tracking systems are tampered with or re-installed by unauthorised entities amounting to a fine of 400 (four hundred) Rial Omani for the first time, which is doubled in the event of repetition, and will lead to cancellation of the licence when repeated for the third time.

You can read the amendments in full in English on the link below:

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Commentary

Oman Doubles Down on Hydrogen

Just before the end of business last Thursday, the Sultanate issued its first ever royal decree pertaining to the rapidly-developing field of hydrogen. Royal Decree 10/2023 Allocating Some Lands for the Purposes of Renewable Energy and Clean Hydrogen Projects is the first of its kind, earmarking sizable parcels of land purely for these projects.

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Law Updates

CAA Issues New Executive Regulation of the Civil Aviation Law

The Civil Aviation Authority has issued a new Executive Regulation of the Civil Aviation Law. This regulation is issued pursuant to the new Civil Aviation Law of 2019 and replaces the executive regulation of 2007.

The regulation addresses all stakeholders in the aviation sector including airports, manufacturers, carriers, and passengers. The regulation covers a variety of topics ranging from the requirement for forming a national airspace planning committee, the approval process for establishing airports, the regulation of aerodrome obstacles, the requirements relating to the operation and airworthiness of aircraft, the duties and authorities of the captain of the aircraft, licensing of carriers, exemption from civil aviation fees, and procedures for investigating aviation accidents in line with the Chicago Convention.

The regulation also covers wider topics relating to aviation such as meteorology and the CAA’s obligation to publish a regulation on passenger rights.

You can read the regulation in full in English on the link below:

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Law Updates

MOCIIP Issues National Product Brand Regulation

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion issued earlier this month a regulation to govern the licensing of the national product brand that requires obtaining a licence before using the brand.

According to article 3, the brand can only be used in regard to products that achieve a minimum percentage of 20% local content. Article 8 also specifies the formula for calculating the percentage of local content by taking into account the ex-works price of the product and the value of the non-originating materials.

The licence is issued for a renewable period of 3 years. The penalties for violating the regulation include imposing a fine not exceeding 500 Rial Omani, suspending the licence for a period not exceeding 1 year, and revoking it.

You can read the regulation in full in English on the link below:

Categories
Law Updates

NCSI Issues New Statistics and Information Regulation

The National Centre for Statistics and Information recently issued a new Executive Regulation of the Statistics and Information Law. The Statistics and Information Law was issued in 2019 replacing the Statistics Law of 2001, and this new regulation replaces the old Statistics Law Regulation of 2004.