Decree Blog

The Environment Authority published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette a new Regulation for Noise Control in the Public Environment that replaces an old regulation on the same topic from 1994.

The new regulation completely overhauls the framework for controlling noise generated by business operations in public places (such as construction, mining, and airports), creates a classification for noise levels for daytime vs nighttime without reference to working days and holidays, introduces new duties on project owners to take noise measures and carry out noise modelling as part of environmental impact studies, and sets new administrative penalties of up to 500 rials for those who violate the regulation.

It is worth noting that this regulation repeals the old Regulation on Noise Control in the Public Environment of 1994, but does not repeal the Regulation on Noise Control in the Work Environment of 1994, which continues to remain in force.

The new Regulation for Noise Control in the Public Environment enters into force tomorrow. You can read it in full in English on the link below:

The Ministry of Labour (MOL) published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette a new regulatory decision that governs the temprary transfer of non-Omani manpower between private sector establishments. This is a brand new area of regulation that did not exist in the past that sets the requirements for transferring non-Omani workers and imposes obligations on the establishment the worker is transferred to along with other matters.

Under this new decision, for a transfer to be legal, the worker must consent to the transfer, the profession to which the worker is transferred must not be an Omanised profession, and the two entities involved in the transfer must comply with Omanisation percentages. There are also other requirements relating to the visa of the worker, the duration of the transfer, and the overall percentage of workers transferred between the entities involved. Other matters governed by this new decision include pay, the nature of the new position, and other general rights and obligations.

It is important to note that there is a legal requirement to register the transfer of the worker with the Ministry of Labour.

This new decision has already entered into force. You can read it in full in English on the link below:

The Ministry of Labour (MOL) issued in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette a new decision regarding the Wage Protection System that repeals a previous decision from 2023 regarding the same topic.

The Wage Protection System is a framework created by the MOL that makes it a legal requirement for all employers in Oman to transfer the salaries of their workers using a specific electronic system through banks and other financial institutions licensed by the Central Bank of Oman. The objective of this system is to ensure that the salaries of workers are paid on time and that there is an electronic record of the transfer of the salaries.

Key changes in the new system include reducing the timeframe for transferring the wages of workers from 7 days to 3 days and introducing new grounds for the exemption from using the wage protection system such as situations where a worker is suspended from work for a reason not attributable to the employer for a period exceeding 30 days.

The new Wage Protection System has already entered into force. You can read it in full in English on the link below:

The Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM) published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette a decision to establish Oman Net Zero Centre as a department in the MEM.

The Oman Net Zero Centre will not be an independent government entity, but a department in the MEM at the level of a directorate general. The decision details the mandates of Oman Net Zero Centre which include preparing and updating the national plan for transition to net zero, providing support and advice to relevant entities and institutions with the aim of achieving net zero targets, preparing the national plan to enhance energy consumption efficiency, approving and registration application for trading in carbon credits, among other functions.

You can read this MEM decision in full in English on the link below:

Yesterday, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion published Ministerial Decision 718/2024 Issuing the Quality Mark Regulation that repeals the old Omani Quality Mark Regulation of 2011. The new regulation governs the controls for obtaining an Omani quality mark licence, sets the obligations of the licensee, and determines the quality monitoring and follow-up processes, fees, and administrative penalties.

A key change in the new regulation is that it no longer requires the application for the Omani quality mark to be an Omani entity. Furthermore, the scope to which the quality mark can be obtained has been expanded from applying only to goods to applying to services and processes as well. There is also a new provision in the regulation that gives the ministry the authority to make a requirement for certain establishments to obtain a quality mark as a pre-requisite for offering certain goods.

It is also worth noting that the new regulation also provides additional details regarding the required information for the application, and creates a two-step process for obtaining the licence involving a preliminary approval followed by a final approval that is issued after inspecting the quality management system of the applicant.

The new regulation also adopts technology by mandating that a QR code is included along with the quality mark logo and requiring that the ministry publishes the details of all products licensed through a dedicated government platform.

The new regulation enters into force next month. You can read it in full in English on the link below:

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Water Resources published in this week’s issue of the Official Gazette an amendment to some provisions of the Executive Regulation of the Law on the Management of Pastures and Livestock giving the MAFWR the power to impose a new set of administrative penalties.

While the actual Law on the Management of Pastures and Livestock included criminal fines for those who violate the law, the original Executive Regulation of the Law on the Management of Pastures and Livestock of 2005 did not grant the ministry the power to issue smaller administrative fines to hold those who commit small offences accountable for their violations. The new amendment changes this by giving this power to the MAFWR by allowing it to impose administrative penalties, such as issuing a warning, ordering the removal of the violation, or cancelling the licence if a licensee violates any of the provisions of the regulation. The new amendment also gives the ministry the power to impose a fine not exceeding 2,000 Rial Omani for each violation with the opportunity to double this fine if the violation is repeated.

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