CONTEXT
Since 2020-2021, most mainland business activities in the UAE permit 100% foreign ownership — meaning a local partner is no longer a legal requirement in the majority of cases. However, if a company was incorporated under the previous model with a local partner holding 51%, those corporate rights remain fully in force until the ownership structure is formally amended. Until that happens, the partner retains the legal capacity to block corporate actions — including banking transactions, licence amendments, and director appointments.
LEGAL BASIS
- Cabinet Decision No. 16 of 2020 — Determination of the Positive List of Economic Sectors and Activities Eligible for Foreign Direct Investment and Percentage of their Ownership
- Cabinet Decision No. 55 of 2021 — list of strategic activities where special ownership requirements remain
- Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on Commercial Companies
- The company's registered Memorandum of Association (MOA)
Key principle: Legal effect attaches to registered documents — not to oral understandings or informal arrangements. The MOA as regis...