DIWAN

Studies & Intelligence

Intelligence with context. Foresight that shapes decisions. The DIWAN register publishes commissioned studies, briefings, and market intelligence across sectors and jurisdictions.

Briefings room Membership

StreamsAll Trade & Capital 88 Law & Regulation 49 Country Files 204 Demand & Buyers 45 Platforms & Growth 186 Brand & Positioning 6 Commodities 24 Business 79 Technology 197 Cyber Security 4

GeographyAll

United Arab Emirates 52

Antigua and Barbuda 1

Bosnia and Herzegovina 1

Brazil 1

British Virgin Islands 1

Central African Republic 1

Northern Mariana Islands 1

Syrian Arab Republic 1

Trinidad and Tobago 1

Tunisia 1

Turkey 1

Turkmenistan 1

Turks and Caicos Islands 1

Cyber Security

2 of 233 items

Photo · Unsplash

RNK-DIWAN-057Legal review

DIWAN · 12 SEPT 2026

Regulatory Watch: UAE Federal (AE-FED)

Six fronts moving at once — e-invoicing, the 15% floor, open finance, data protection, companies law, and the new Capital Market Authority

The UAE federal rulebook is in its busiest rewrite since 2021. Two major regimes took effect on 1 January 2026 (the amended Commercial Companies Law and the new Capital Markets Law that turned the SCA into the CMA), the national e-invoicing system opened its voluntary phase on 1 July 2026 with the first hard operator deadline on 30 October 2026, the 15% Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax is in its first live fiscal year, Open Finance is rolling out across all CBUAE licensees, and the PDPL's executive regulations remain the notable straggler. This edition maps what changed, what it costs to ignore, and the 120-day operator playbook.

1 Jan 2027MANDATORY E-INVOICING WAVE 1 GO-LIVE (REVENUE ≥ AED 50M)

15%DMTT MINIMUM EFFECTIVE RATE ON IN-SCOPE MULTINATIONALS

AED 200MMAXIMUM ADMINISTRATIVE FINE, NEW CAPITAL MARKETS LAW

Members

12 min$149Read →

Photo · Unsplash

RNK-DIWAN-056Legal review

LEX · 06 SEPT 2026

GCC Directors' Duties: The Governance Edition

One board seat, three legal families — what Gulf directors personally owe in 2026, and what breach now actually costs

The fourth edition in the demand series answers the second-largest question cluster on the legal platform (≈20% of reader queries): what do directors and managers personally owe, and when does the company's problem become theirs? The answer has changed. Between the Dubai Court of Cassation's AED 152m personal award against a vice-chairman and CEO, the UAE bankruptcy law's shadow-director reach, KSA's 2022 law with the region's first express business-judgment defence, and the NMC proceedings in ADGM — where judgment on civil fraud claims against the founder and former CEO was reserved on 3 July 2026 after a 15-week trial and a US$600m mid-closing settlement by Bank of Baroda — personal liability in the Gulf has moved from paper risk to enforced norm. This study maps the duties across mainland UAE, ADGM, DIFC and Saudi Arabia, prices the breach, and gives five board seats a 90-day protection playbook.

US$600mSETTLED BY BANK OF BARODA DURING CLOSING ARGUMENTS OF THE NMC TRIAL IN ADGM, JULY 2026 — WITHOUT ADMISSION OF LIABILITY

AED 152mAWARDED PERSONALLY AND JOINTLY AGAINST A FORMER VICE-CHAIRMAN/CEO AND SUBSIDIARY MANAGER — DUBAI COURT OF CASSATION, APPEAL 866 OF 2024

≈20%SHARE OF READER QUERIES ON THE LEGAL PLATFORM THAT CONCERN DIRECTORS' DUTIES AND GOVERNANCE — THE SECOND-LARGEST DEMAND CLUSTER

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19 min$149Read →

Studies & Intelligence

Cyber Security

Regulatory Watch: UAE Federal (AE-FED)

GCC Directors' Duties: The Governance Edition

Highlights

UAE Federal Regulatory Watch — The Enforcement Turn (Q4 2026)

Regulatory Watch: UAE Federal — Four Fronts Move at Once

Market Signal: The Consolidation Turn

Monthly dossiers