Federal Decree-Law

A Federal Decree-Law is a legislative instrument issued by the President of the UAE, with the approval of the Supreme Council, when the Federal National Council is not in session or when urgent matters require a law to be enacted before the next FNC session can take it up. Decree-Laws have the same force as ordinary federal laws from the moment of their publication in the Official Gazette and are presented to the FNC at its next session. Major reforms of UAE private law — including the current Personal Status, Civil Transactions, Evidence, Labour, Companies, Data Protection and Anti-Money-Laundering laws — have been enacted through this instrument, usually under the form "Federal Decree-Law No. [X] of [YEAR] concerning [subject]".