The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a civil law jurisdiction. Passing off is a common law concept and is not available as such under UAE law. There is no “passing off' cause of action in the UAE except as we will see below under the rules and regulations of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) which is a freezone in the UAE established and recognised as a common law jurisdiction.

The closest concept to passing off available in the UAE is “unfair competition” under Federal Decree-Law No. 50/2022 On the Promulgation of the Commercial Transactions Law. Under this concept, a trader may not engage in misleading conduct or prejudice the interests of another trader through false or misleading means.

Passing-off: Passing off is a common law tort, which protects the goodwill of traders from damage by misrepresentations of other persons.