Unlike in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain’s personal status law is uncodified, and the Sharia courts are responsible for applying the Islamic principles of inheritance on a case by case basis. This means that when a senior member of a family business passes away, family members who disagree on matters of succession, find themselves embroiled in lengthy and costly court proceedings.

In January 2019 the Qatari Civil Court of First Instance issued an interesting judgment in relation to the enforcement of possessive mortgages in which it confirmed a very important principle related to the recognition of the expeditious enforcement of possessive mortgages.

The Central Bank of Bahrain (‘CBB’) issued Directive No. OG/499/2018 concerning the economic substance requirements for certain financial institutions (defined as the ‘Relevant Entities’ below) in the Kingdom of Bahrain (‘Bahrain’) that came into force on 1 January 2019 (‘Economic Substance Directive’) pursuant to Article 38 of the CBB and Financial Institutions Law No. 64 of 2006 (‘CBB Law’).

While seeing the unexpected COVID-19 outbreak expanding worldwide and the first cases being identified in Cyprus, the commercial sector does not remain unaffected.

AREAS CONCERNED BY THE DECREE 1. Are there any differences within the country? No, after the March 9th decree, all measures and regulations apply to the entire country of Italy and they are effective from March 10th until April 3rd.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, passed a new law relating to the manner in which outdoor and public space advertising is approved and displayed in the Emirate.

As an autonomous region of Iraq, Iraqi-Kurdistan (Kurdistan Region of Iraq) in 2012, passed its own law to govern copyright and adjacent rights (Region Law No. (17) of 2012) (the Copyright Law).

100% Foreign Ownership in Dubai A Game Changer for Foreign Direct Investment in Dubai The Foreign Direct Investment Law, Decree Law No 19 of 2018 (“Decree”), permits 100% foreign ownership of local businesses by global investors in the UAE mainland and provides an opportunity for foreign investors to own majority stake in companies in the Dubai mainland. Ownership was previously limited to only 49% of a company’s share capital.

In the Middle East, family businesses dominate key industries and employ over half the region’s workforce. Family businesses are the mainspring of every Middle Eastern economy. However, they are confronted by major challenges. That is where we can help.

The Securities Central Counterparties Regulation (the “Regulation”) was issued by the Board of the Capital Markets Authority (“CMA”) pursuant to resolution number 3-127-2019 dated 21/3/1441H (corresponding to 18/11/2019G) to regulate Securities Clearing activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“Kingdom”) and specify the procedures and conditions for obtaining an authorisation to carry out such activities. The Regulation reinforces the theme of...