Introduction
The civil procedure regulation of a country is among the necessary legislation within a nation. Civil cases arise regularly and can relate to many topics as well as initiate from countless sources. With the extremely busy and hectic nature of the UAE with its tremendous amount of business activity and the significant number of foreign tourists and non-native residents, these rules must be as complete and all-encompassing as possible.
The UAE Civil code was initially introduced as Federal Law Number 11 of 1992 and is extensive legislation. There have arisen a few amendments through the years since, though with the ever-changing state of the world from a technological standpoint and also from the perspective of a nation continually growing and undergoing change, further amendments are bound to follow.
Recently, new amendments have been introduced to streamline the law further and also ensure it is up to date. A brief summary of these follows.
Council of Ministers Decision Number 57 2018
The new amendments received approval in December of 2018, and some of the fundamental changes they shall bring are as follows.
Electronic evidence receives further recognition as per the amendments. While the nation does accept electronic proof, there was no mention of this in the civil code.
Further to this, the means of notifying another party before litigation is more expanded, specifically in the case of creditors and debtors. A minimum notification period from one party to the other before a decision can arise in court is now provided as five days.
Refusal and denial of applications are up to the judges, though justification must be provided for any that aren't approved.
These are a few of the critical new introductions in the civil code amendments.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.