Drug Crimes Under UAE Criminal Law

Is drug abuse outside the country a crime under UAE law?

State courts are not competent to hear criminal law proceedings if the accused is found to be guilty outside the State.

The offense of drug abuse is a temporary drug crime and is not continuous.

What if the drugs are taken outside the UAE?

What the UAE provides for in combating the crime of abusing narcotic substances and psychotropic substances according to Drug Crimes and Criminal Law is:

“The crime of drug abuse is a temporary crime, not a continuous crime because its material element is achieved at a specific moment of time and ends with the end of the act of abuse."

This is not affected by the continuous effect of the crime of drug abuse since the effect of the act is not to be considered in its legal adaptation.

Article 142 of the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulates that ”Jurisdiction shall be determined by the place where the crime occurred.”

Article 146 of the same Act stipulates that ”Should the court notice, at any stage of the proceedings, that it lacks jurisdiction to examine the case, it shall decide its incompetence even without any request to this effect”.

The Court of Cassation has also ruled that “Articles 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 of the Penal Code and Article 142 of the Penal Procedure Code jointly refer to” unless otherwise stipulated in a special provision

The courts are not competent to adjudicate offenses committed outside the territory of the State.

This does not change the fact that the legislator has expressed in Article 16 of the Penal Code “A crime shall be considered perpetrated in the territory of the State if any of its constituent acts occur therein”.

As the goal of including this provision in the chapter of the law applicable in terms of place, it means that the matter is related to the jurisdiction place of the State courts and the courts may not consider the crimes committed outside the territory and therefore not apply the provisions of domestic law to that kind of crimes.

If the courts come to adjudicate a crime matter assigned to the accused party although these crimes are approved that they occurred abroad, in cases other than those excluded, the courts will violate the rules of territorial jurisdiction.

(Appeal No. 2000/27, Penal Circuit: Date 08-04-2000 – rule 19, issued in edition No. 11, 2000, Page No. 1193 – Judgments of Court of Cassation)

It is decided also by the court of cassation that:

• drug crime or psychotropic substance use is a temporary crime that begins and ends at the time of the abuse.
• This description is not affected by the continuing effect of the use of narcotic drugs.
• The Court of Cassation has ruled that “the crime of drug abuse is temporary crime not continuing crime because its material element is achieved at a specific moment of time and ends with the end of the act of abuse.
• This is not affected by the continuing effect of drug crime since the effect of the act is not to be considered in its legal adaptation.
• Criminal Law (Appeal No. 1998/15, Penal Circuit: Date 20-06-1998 – rule 19, issued in edition No. 9, 1998, Page No. 1079 – Judgments of Court of Cassation).

Written by:

Amal Khamis | Amal Khamis Advocates & Legal Consultants