UAE Civil Procedure Code

Article (1)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. The provisions of this Code shall apply to all legal proceedings that have yet to be adjudicated on, as well as all procedures that have yet to be implemented, prior to the date of entry into force of this Code, with the following exceptions: a.The jurisdiction-amending provisions where their date of entry into force falls beyond the close of pleadings into the legal proceeding before the Court of First Instance; b.The time limit-amending provisions where the underlying time limit has already commenced prior to their entry into force; and c.The provisions regulating the means of challenging judgments with regard to the judgments rendered prior to their date of entry into force, where such laws are either repealed or creating any of such means. 2. Every procedure validly conducted under an applicable law shall remain valid and effective unless otherwise stipulated. 3. The time limits regulating the inadmissibility or lapse of proceedings or other procedural time limits that are newly prescribed shall only commence on the date of entry into force of the law prescribing the same.

Article (2)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

No application or plea shall be admitted insofar as the filing party thereof has no existing lawful interest in respect thereof. However, the potential interest shall be legally sufficient for the application or plea to be admitted if the purpose of the same is to take a precautionary measure to avoid an imminent damage or to safeguard a right which might be lost if it becomes a matter of dispute.

Article (3)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. Legal proceeding for revocation of administrative decisions shall not be admitted after sixty [60] days from the date of publishing the underlying administrative decision, or the date of serving the same upon the interested party, or the date on which it is established that the interested party has become fully aware of the same. 2. This time limit shall be interrupted when a grievance or objection is filed with the competent administrative authority based on the applicable procedures set out in the relevant legislation. In which case, the competent administrative authority shall decide on the grievance within sixty [60] days following its filing date. If the grievance is rejected, the rejection decision shall be reasoned. The lapse of sixty [60] days following the filing date of the grievance with no decision being made on the grievance by the competent administrative authority shall be construed as rejection of the grievance. The time limit for instituting the case shall commence on the date of explicit or implicit rejection, as the case may be.

Article (4)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. Where this Code prescribes a mandatory time limit for taking any action that is conducted by service of process, the time limit shall only be observed if either the application is submitted or the service of process is conducted within such a time limit. 2. Where this Code prescribes that a particular action be performed by way of filing, the filing procedures shall be performed within the time limit described in the Law.

Article (5)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. Arabic shall be the official language of courts, and the Court shall hear the statements of the non-Arabic-speaking litigants, witnesses and others through an interpreter after the latter takes the oath according to the Law. 2. Notwithstanding any provision set forth in any other law, the Chairman of the Federal Judicial Council or the Head of the Local judicial body, as the case may be, may decide that English be the language of trials, procedures, judgments and decisions in respect of certain tribunals that are assigned to hear the proceedings involving specialized matters, specific cases or particular proceedings. In which case, the statements of litigants, witnesses or lawyers, shall all be heard in English, and the statements, pleadings, applications and other documents shall also be submitted to such tribunals in English. In addition, the court shall hear the statements of non-English-speaking litigants, witnesses or other persons through an interpreter after the latter takes the oath according to the law, in the cases and according to the controls and conditions to be prescribed in the relevant decision.

Article (6)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. The service of process shall be conducted upon the request of the litigant, or based on an order of the competent court or a decision of the Case Management Office, either by the process server or by the means prescribed by this Code. 2. The competent court, the Case Management Office or the supervising judge, as the case may be, may authorize the Plaintiff or its Lawyer to serve the process by the means described in Article [9.1] of this Code. 3. The service of process may be conducted by one or more private companies or firms according to the provisions of this Code, and the Chairman of the Federal Judicial Council or the Head of the Local judicial body, as the case may be, shall issue the rules regulating the service of process by private companies and firms according to the provisions of this Code. Anybody tasked with serving the process in this regard shall be deemed a process server. 4. In all cases, the service of process may be conducted throughout the State without compliance with the rules of territorial jurisdiction.

Article (7)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. Any service of process shall be conducted, or any Execution procedure shall be initiated by the process server or the Execution Bailiff, between seven in the morning [07:00 am] and nine in the afternoon [09:00 pm], and the same shall only be conducted on public holidays where there is a state of urgency based on the permission of the supervising judge, the chief justice of the competent court or the judge of urgent matters. 2. Should the service of process be conducted by any modern means of communication, whether upon natural persons or legal persons, the time limits set forth in Clause [1] of this Article shall not apply, except for the recorded calls. 3. For the government and public legal persons, the time of service or commencement of Execution in relation to their activities shall be their working hours, except for the service of process by any modern means of communication.

Article (8)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. The process to be served shall include the following details: a.The Plaintiff's name, surname, occupation or profession, domicile, mobile phone number, fax number, email, or its elected domicile and place of residence, the legal representative's name, surname, occupation or profession, domicile and place of work if working for a third party; b.The name, surname, occupation or profession, domicile or elected domicile of the Defendant. If the latter has no known domicile at the time of serving the notice, the last known domicile and place of work of the same shall be included, along with its mobile phone number, fax number and email address, if any; c.The process server's name, occupation and employer, and his signature; d.The date of the day, month, year and hour of serving the notice; e.The name of the court, subject of the service of process, case number and the hearing date, if any; and f.The name, capacity, surname, seal or fingerprint of the person receiving the process as a proof of receipt, or the reasons for his / her refusal to receive the process. 2. If the service of process is conducted by modern means of communication, the data described in the paragraphs [A], [B], [D] and [E] of Clause [1] of this Article shall be legally sufficient. 3. If the Defendant's native language is not Arabic, the Claimant shall enclose with the process a certified translation thereof in English, unless there is prior agreement between the parties to provide the translation in any other language. 4. The provision of Clause [3] of this Article shall apply to all civil and commercial proceedings, except for the labor proceedings initiated by the employee and workers, as well as personal status proceedings.

Article (9)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. The Defendant shall be served by any of the following means: a. Audio or video recorded call, SMS to mobile phone, smart applications, email, fax, other modern means of communication or by any other means to be agreed upon by the parties from among the means of service described herein; b. By hand delivery to the Defendant at his / her place of residence or domicile, or to his / her attorney. If the process fails to be served due to any reason on the part of the Defendant, or if the latter refuses to receive the process, the same shall be construed as personal service upon the intended person. If the process server fails to find the Defendant at his / her place of residence or domicile, the process shall be served upon any person cohabitating with the intended person; i.e. his / her spouse, relative by blood or marriage or servant. If none of the above-mentioned persons is willing to receive the notice, or where there is no person upon whom the notice can be legally served, or the place of residence is closed, the process server shall either directly post the process visibly on the outer door of the intended recipient's place of residence, or post the same on the court's website; c. At the elected domicile of the Defendant; or d. At the place of work of the Defendant. If the Defendant is not available at his / her place of work, the process shall be delivered to his boss, any person in charge of the management of the Defendant, or his / her colleague, with the exception of the service of process relating to personal status proceedings, which shall be served upon the Defendant in person at his / her place of work. 2. The process server shall verify the identity of the person served, by ensuring that his appearance indicates that he is at least eighteen [18] years of age, and that neither he nor his representative has an apparent interest that conflicts with that of the Defendant. If the process is served by the means of communications described in [1.A] of this Article, the process server shall ensure that the means of communication used is personally relating to the Defendant. If the notice is served by audio or video recorded calls, the process server shall draw up a report setting out the content, time and date of the call and the details of the call recipient. Such a report shall have the probative force as evidence and shall be enclosed with the case file. 3. If the Defendant cannot be served as indicated in Clause [1] of this Article, the matter shall be referred to the Case Management Office, the competent judge or the chief justice of the court, as the case may be, in order to gather information from at least one relevant entity and then serve the notice upon the intended person either by posting on the court's website or by publication in both a widely-circulated electronic or paper daily newspaper that is published in the State in Arabic, and a foreign newspaper published in a foreign language, if necessary, where the Defendant intended to be served is a foreigner.

Article (10)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

Unless otherwise provided for in any other legislative instrument, a copy of the process shall be served as follows: 1.For the ministries, federal and local government bodies, public authorities and public institutions of all types, the process shall be served upon their legal representative; 2.For the private legal persons, private societies, companies and organizations, private sole proprietorships and foreign companies that have a branch or representative office in the State, if the process is relating to the company's branch, it shall be served according to the provisions of Article [9.1] of this Code, and shall be delivered at their headquarters to their legal representative or any person acting on his behalf or any partner thereof, as the case may be. If neither the legal representative nor any person acting on his behalf is available, the process shall be delivered to any employee of their office. If the organization concerned has no headquarters or is closed, or if its manager or any of its employees refuses to receive the process, the same shall be served by positing on the court's website, by directly posting the process on the door without permission of the court, or by publication, as the case may be; 4.For members of the armed forces or the police or the like, the process shall be served upon their competent department as instructed by the aforesaid bodies; 4.For the persons in prison and detention, the process shall be delivered to their place of existence for service, and the delivery of the papers required to be served upon the intended person shall be established; 5.For the seafarers or crew members of commercial vessels, the process shall be delivered to their captain for service. If the vessel has already set out from the port, the process shall be delivered to its shipping agent; and 6.For the persons whose whereabouts are outside the State and could not be served by way of the means of communication, private companies or firms, or the way agreed upon by the parties, the process shall be submitted to the Ministry of Justice, in order to be referred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, so as to be delivered to the diplomatic mission concerned in the State, unless the means of service is such a case is regulated by special agreements.

Article (11)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

The service of process shall be deemed effective as follows: 1.As of the date of service according to the provisions of Articles [9] and [10] of this Code, or the date on which the Defendant refuses to receive the same; 2.Following the expiry of twenty-one [21] business days, starting from the date on which the diplomatic mission concerned in the State receives the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation's letter containing the process to be served; 3.As of the date of receiving the fax or the sending date of the email message or text message to the mobile phone, the date of sending the process by means of communication, or the date of making the audio or video recorded message; or 4.As of the date of posting the process on the court's website on the designated page. The posting shall remain valid for at least fifteen [9] days, and as of the date of completing the posting or publication according to the provisions of this Part.

Article (12)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. If the law prescribes a time limit in days, months or years for appearance or for the occurrence of a particular procedure, neither the day of service nor the date of occurrence of the incident regarded by the law as giving rise to the relevant time limit shall be included in the time limit, and the same shall expire upon the lapse of the last day thereof. 2. If the time limit is prescribed in hours, neither the hour of service nor the hour of occurrence of the incident regarded by the law as giving rise to the relevant time limit shall be included in the time limit, and the same shall expire upon the lapse of the last hour thereof. 3. If the time limit is required to expire before a particular procedure takes place, the underlying procedure shall only occur after the lapse of the last day of the time limit. 4. If the last day of the time limit falls on a public holiday, the time limit shall be automatically extended to the first following business day. 5. The time limits specified in months or years shall be calculated in the Gregorian calendar, so that the month is thirty [30] days and the year is three hundred sixty-five [365] days, unless the law provides otherwise.

Article (13)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

1. The procedure shall be invalid if such invalidity is explicitly provided for in the law, or if the underlying procedure involves any essential defect or shortcoming due to which the purpose of the procedure cannot be achieved. 2. In all cases, the invalidity shall not be decided in spite of being provided for in the law, if the purpose of the underlying procedure is achieved.

Article (14)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

Except for the cases where the invalidity is relating to the public order: 1.Invalidity may only be invoked by the party in whose favor the same is established by the law. 2.Invalidity may not be invoked by the party causing the same. 3.Invalidity shall be extinguished if the party in whose favor such invalidity is established explicitly or implicitly waives the same.

Article (15)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

The invalid procedure may be rectified even after being invoked, provided that such rectification takes place within the time limit prescribed by law for the underlying procedure to be performed. If there is no time limit prescribed by law in respect of the underlying procedure, the Court shall determine an appropriate time limit for rectifying the same. The procedure rectified shall only become effective as of its rectification date.

Article (16)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

If the procedure is invalid but satisfies the elements of any other procedure, the latter shall be deemed valid as being the procedure whose elements are satisfied. If the procedure is partially invalid, only the invalid part thereof shall be invalid. Invalidity of the procedure shall not invalidate the procedures preceding, or subsequent to, it, if they are not dependent thereupon.

Article (17)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

The transcript of court hearing shall be deemed an official deed in respect of its content, and shall be drawn up by a clerk who, together with the judge, shall sign the transcript in a paper or electronic format.; otherwise, the transcript shall be null and void.

Article (18)

Preliminary Part: General Provisions

he process server, clerks or other judicial assistants shall not get involved in any activity that falls within the scope of their jobs in respect of the legal proceedings relating to them or their spouses, blood relatives or in-laws up to the fourth degree; otherwise, such an activity shall be null and void.

Article (19)

Chapter One: Universal Jurisdiction of Courts

Except for actions in-rem relating to real property abroad, the Courts shall have the jurisdiction to hear and adjudicate on the legal proceedings instituted against national citizens as well as foreigners having a place of residence or domicile in the State.

Article (20)

Chapter One: Universal Jurisdiction of Courts

The Courts shall have the jurisdiction over the foreigner who has no place of residence or domicile in the State in the following cases: 1.If the foreigner has an elected domicile in the State; 2.If the legal proceeding is relating to property in the State, inheritance share of a national citizen or an estate opened in the State; 3.If the legal proceeding is relating to an obligation that is executed or performed, or required to be performed, in the State, a contract required to be attested in the State, an incident taking place in the State, or a bankruptcy process established by any Court of the State; 4.If the legal proceeding is instituted by a wife who has a place of residence in the State against her husband who had a place of residence therein; 5.If the legal proceeding is relating to the maintenance expenses of either parent, a wife, an interdicted person, a young child or his / her parentage, guardianship over the property or persons, in the event that the party claiming the maintenance expenses, the wife, the young child or the interdicted person has a place of residence in the State; 6.If the legal proceeding is relating to personal status matters, and the Plaintiff is a UAE national or foreigner having a place of residence in the State, if the Defendant has no known address abroad, or where the national law is applicable to the legal proceeding; or 7.If any of the Defendants has a place of residence or domicile in the State.

Article (21)

Chapter One: Universal Jurisdiction of Courts

The Courts shall have the jurisdiction to adjudicate on the preliminary matters and interlocutory applications associated with the main case falling within their jurisdiction, as well as every motion or application relating to such a case where the proper administration of justice entails that the same be heard concurrently with the main case. They shall also have the jurisdiction to adjudicate on summary and precautionary measures to be enforced in the State, even if they have no jurisdiction over the main case.

Article (22)

Chapter One: Universal Jurisdiction of Courts

If the Defendant fails to appear and the Court has no jurisdiction over the case according to the foregoing Articles, the Court shall, sua sponte, decide that it lacks the jurisdiction.

Article (23)

Chapter One: Universal Jurisdiction of Courts

Any agreement that goes against the Articles of this Chapter shall be null and void.

Article (24)

Chapter Two: Subject-Matter Jurisdiction of Courts

1. The Courts of First Instance have the jurisdictions to hear all claims, disputes and proceedings of first instance, except for those excluded under a special provision. 2. Abu Dhabi Federal Court of First Instance shall have the exclusive jurisdictions to hear all proceedings to which ministries and federal entities are parties.