Q: Hello Ludmila, My client is a civil works company. Just wanted to know which federal law is applicable for the company law governance. Thank you in advance.

Q: I have a professional company with a civil license from DED (not an LLC company). The civil partnership company is not defined in the commercial companies' law. It is defined as a "partnership" in the UAE civil transactions law. Is UAE commercial companies law applicable to a company with a civil license?

Q: What are the major laws of the UAE for studying cases related to business/ company?

Q: I gave a loan of AED 200,000 to a person. He gave me a letter acknowledging that he received 200,000 from me. Later on, he gave me cheques for 100,000 and a letter stating that this was partial payment of a loan. The cheques bounced. I made a court case and submitted the cheques and acknowledgment of partial payment. I did not submit the letter acknowledging that the debtor received AED 200,000 from me. I won a verdict for the 100,000 AED. Later on, I started a court case for the remainder of AED 100,000. I submitted the letter acknowledging that the debtor received AED 200,000 from me. I explained that I had already won the case for the first 100,000 and this was a lawsuit for the remainder of 100,000. I won the First Instance and the Appeal judgment. Suddenly, the case was rejected by the Cassation Court. They wrote that my case for the second payment of AED 100,000 was a repeat of the first case of AED 100,000 and had already been judged What can I do in such a circumstance?

Q: Dear sir/madam, There is a civil company with a professional license that owes me 925,000 AED as per an existing execution lawsuit. The company has not paid me in the last 5 years despite one of the partners/managers being detained for one month. I met the partner/manager of the company and he said he will start a lawsuit to declare that his civil company is a commercial LLC. Then he will only have to pay 50,000 AED (declared capital of his company as per his MOU of the civil company). He showed me a precedent lawsuit wherein the cassation court stated that they are responsible to judge if a company is civil or commercial, irrespective of the license. Question 1: Have many companies with civil licenses been deemed to be commercial companies recently? Is it easy to prove that a civil company is a commercial company? Question 2: What type of evidence has the partner/manager to produce to prove that his company was a commercial company even though it has a 25-year-old civil license?

Sometimes this seems very simple to incorporate a company in the UAE, however, investors must seek professional advice before taking this important business decision to avoid any future legal implications.

Over the years the UAE has become a centre of trade and commerce for the Middle East, thanks to its strategic location, excellent connectivity and extensive services to assist with all aspects of business. According to the World Bank's 2016 report, the UAE has ranked 31st in the global index of ease of doing business. This encourages more entrepreneurs to set up different kinds of business entities in the country.

The provisions of this law, promulgating UAE Civil Code, govern the civil transactions in the United Arab Emirates. The commercial transactions remain subject to the laws and regulations applicable in their regard.

The law promulgates UAE Civil Procedures Code (Civil Procedure Law) which governs civil procedures in the United Arab Emirates, including the prosecution before the courts, litigation and execution.

The provisions of this Law apply to the commercial companies established in the UAE and the foreign companies that have established in the UAE a base to conduct any activity therein or established a branch or representative office. The Law abrogates Federal Law No. (8) of 1984 Concerning Commercial Companies.