In brief The United Arab Emirates’ (“UAE”) federal-level financial services regulator relevant to securities, commodities and now Virtual Assets Service Providers (“VASPs”), the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority (“SCA”), has just issued two new regulations relevant to Virtual Assets (“VAs”): SCA Chairman of the Board of Director’s Decision No. (26/RM) of 2023 in relation to Virtual Assets Platform Operators (the “SCA VA Exchange Regulations”); and SCA Chairman of the Board of Director’s Decision No. (27/RM)…
In brief On 18 April 2023, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) launched a 30-day public consultation on the proposed amendments to the Personal Data Protection Regulations to establish additional areas of regulation that would support the strong implementation of the DIFC Data Protection Law No. 5 of 2020 (please view the Consultation Paper No. 2 of 2023 here). The proposed amendments are aimed at enhancing the current data protection framework in the DIFC and…
In brief Over the last few years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has taken steps to regulate the volatile crypto industry, as seen in the recent crypto winter, and to anticipate global crypto regulatory developments including in the US and in the UK that have been called upon to regulate the sector through regulations rather than enforcement, to protect retail investors that ultimately were the major victims of the crypto winter. In 2020, the Financial…
In brief As the Dubai real estate market continues to break pre-pandemic transaction records, a new real estate law has been introduced to further support the growth of property investment funds in Dubai. With the issuance of Decree No. 22 of 2022 (the Property Investment Funds Law), a new register (the Register of Property Investment Funds) has been established at the Dubai Land Department (the DLD) which entitles registered funds certain rights to facilitate their…
In Brief The recently issued Decree No. 34 of 2021 by Dubai’s Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has been a trending topic. The Decree dissolves the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre (EMAC) and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Arbitration Institute and assigns their obligations to the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (the New DIAC). Dr. Habib Al Mulla had proposed the changes to the Dubai Government and prepared the first draft of the law…