Commercial Protection Laws

A number of Federal Laws on commercial protection were promulgated in the United Arab Emirates, including:

1. Federal Law No. (4) of 1979 promulgated for Suppression of Fraud and Deceit in the Commercial Transactions.
2. Federal Law No. (37) of 1992 on Trade Marks.
3. Federal Law No. (18) of 1981, as amended by Law No. 14 of 1968 on Regulating of Commercial Agencies.
4. Federal Law No. 24/2006 of the Consumer Protection

1. Federal Law No. (4) of 1979 promulgated for Suppression of Fraud and Deceit in the Commercial Transactions

This Law included 13 articles which dealt with crimes of commercial swindling and their stipulated punishments.

• Article (1) of the Law provides for punishing any person who deceives or proceeds to deceive his contracting counterpart by any means whatsoever.
• Article (2) incriminates any person who manipulates or proceeds to manipulate human or animal foodstuff, drugs, agricultural crops, natural products or any other materials made for sale, and who launches or offers them for sale. The punishment is aggravated when such materials are harmful to human or animal health.
• Article (3) incriminates any person who acquires in bad faith foodstuff, drugs, agricultural crops, products or other manipulated materials. The punishment is aggravated when such materials are harmful to health.
• Article (4) prohibits imports of manipulated or decomposed foodstuff, drugs, agricultural crops or natural products. The Minister of Economy and Commerce has the authority, pursuant to this Article, to order destroyal of such materials at the expense of the importer thereof, if he fails to re-export them on a date specified by the Minister.
• Article (5) authorized the Ministry of Economy and Commerce to regulate several matters relevant to the Law, which this Article specifically deals with.
• Article (6) determined those law officers who are vested with the authority of proving the crimes committed in violation of the provisions of this Law.
• Article (7-13) deal with procedures and methods which are followed, and means by which crimes committed in violation of this Law can be proved, as well as measures, punishments and confiscation in cases determined by the Law.

2. Federal Law No. (37) of 1992 on Trade Marks.

A trademark is an insignia or symbol issued by a merchant, manufacturer or a service provider on his product or service to identify it from others.

A trademark can be industrial, which is adopted by a producer to identify his goods. It can also be commercial, which is owned by an agent who buys goods from a manufacturer and resells them to consumers. A trademark can be as well a service mark adopted by a service provider to identity his service from others.

A trade mark and trade name must not be confused. A trade mark is used to identify goods, while a trade name is used to identify a commercial or industrial establishment, and not goods sold or manufactured. Therefore a trade name is usually placed on a shop or factory's façade while a trade mark is placed on goods. The United Arab Emirates Legislature sought to protect tradenames by promulgating Federal Law No. (37) of 1992 on Regulating Trade Marks, in respect of form and substance. The Law incriminates deeds such as imitation, forgery, usurping of trade marks, use of fake and imitation trade marks, or misleading other parties into believing that a trade mark is registered. The Law also regulated registration, cancellation, transfer, pledging of trade marks, as well as contracts involving use of trade marks, and marks used to signify that certain products have been monitored or inspected.

3. Federal Law No. (18) of 1981, as amended by Law No. 14 of 1968 on Regulating of Commercial Agencies.

The provision relating to registered commercial agencies are collectively set out in Federal Law No. 18 of 1981 on the organization of Commercial agencies and amended by Federal Law No. 14 of 1988. Article 1 of the Agency Law defines a registered commercial agency as "the representation of a principal by an agent for the purpose of distributing, selling, offering or providing merchandise or service within the state for a commission or profit." Under the same Article, a principal is defined as "the producer or manufacturer or the exclusive accredited exporter or representative of the producer."
The Agency Law further stipulates a number of conditions which need to be fulfilled for a registered commercial agency to be valid. These are:

1. It must be duly registered with the Commercial Agencies Committee at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, otherwise it will be deemed void.
2. The agent must be a UAE national or wholly owned UAE entity incorporated in the UAE. (Article 2)
3. The subject matter of the agency must be exclusive to the agent within the agency territory. (Article 5)
4. The agency agreement must be in writing and include the following provisions (Article 10):
1. The name, nationality and address of the agent and principal;
2. The products, commodities and services covered by the commercial agency;
3. The territory the agreement is to cover. It is possible to employ a different trade agent in each or all of the emirates in the UAE, provided the agency is exclusive to the agent within that territory;
4. The date on which the agreement is to commence, its duration and provisions in the event of default;
5. Where the agent is a commercial company, the company's name, type (legal form), head office and (UAE) branch addresses and its capital amount;
6. The agent is an exclusive agent for the territory defined in the agency agreement;
7. The rights given for the distribution of the product in question are given directly by the principal.

The agency agreement must be notarized/legalized by the Foreign Ministry and authenticated by the UAE Embassy in the country it is executed in (Article 4)

4. Federal Law No. 24/2006 of the Consumer Protection:

Article5

The supplier shall undertake returning or replacing any goods in instances of any defects discovered by the consumer provided that the return and replacement shall be pursuant to the specified rules in the Executive order of this law.

Article6

The Supplier shall not offer, present, promote, and advertise any defect, fake, damaged, false or misleading goods or services that may harm the consumer’s interest or health in the normal use.

Article8

The supplier, upon offering any goods for sale, shall display the price in a clear way or shall display the price in a clear way or shall display it in clear place over the goods shelves. The consumer shall have the right to obtain a sates invoice that includes the type and price of the goods along with any other information specified in the executive order of this law.

Article13

The Services provider  shall warrant the provided Service for a period of time that commensurate with the nature of this Service, otherwise the Service provider shall either remit the amount paid by the consumer or shall provide the Service again in the proper way. The Executive Order of this law shall specify the types of Services and warranty period for each Service.