Federal Decree by Law No. 43 of 2023 concerning the Maritime Law.

This Law consisting of 369 articles organized into nine Sections aims to provide a comprehensive framework for governing maritime activities in the UAE, ensuring the protection of rights and responsibilities of all parties involved in sea voyages and related operations and applies to all seagoing vessels involved in freight forwarding and maritime navigation, and is supplemented by Federal Decree-Law for commercial maritime activities not specifically covered herein.
The Law covers the following main topics (i) ownership, mandating the creation of a Ships Register for vessels with majority ownership by UAE or GCC nationals, or entities based in the UAE (article 7). These ships must fly the UAE flag (article 14). The Cabinet can grant UAE nationality to vessels owned by entities under international agreements (article 12). Ships with multiple owners are divided into 100 shares, and management can be assigned with majority approval (article 27); (ii) registration and contracts, that must be in writing to be valid and recorded in the ‘Register of Ships Being Built’ (article 9). Contracts must outline ownership transfer during construction, and builders are accountable for hidden defects for a specific period; (iii) vessel age, establishing that vessels must be under twenty years old, except passenger ships, which must be under ten years old (article 10). They must have valid international certificates of seaworthiness from approved classification bodies (artice 13); (iv) bareboat charter, allowing the Ministry to license UAE-registered ships to fly another country's flag if chartered bareboat, notifying the relevant maritime administration (article 19); (v) lien rights, prioritization, and registration requirements. Liens generally do not require formal procedures unless specified (articles 30 and 31); (vi) vessel arrests, eintroducing new procedures, including sister-ship and time-charter vessel arrests, and lifting arrests through security or guarantees, align with international standards; (vii) vessel sale Any owner can request the compulsory sale of a ship at auction. If owners holding at least half the shares do not agree, a court can order the sale if necessary (article 28).