The UAE Commercial Companies Law in its final stage

Analysis

The UAE Commercial Companies Law, which was enacted first in 1984 but only came into enforcement in 1991, has gone through a number of changes and amendments in the last 15 years.

There have also been several drafts available for discussion. One draft came in with aggressive changes whereby the entire law was revamped and a totally new draft was presented. Another draft had major amendments and the third draft had only a facelift to the existing law.

Currently the Commercial Companies Law provides all the legal rules for the establishment of commercial companies, public companies (in conjunction with ESCA), and branches of foreign companies (or representative offices) in the UAE.