The United Arab Emirates (UAE) plays an important role in the multilateral trading system and has taken bold steps to diversify the economy away from oil and gas, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The WTO says that its second Trade Policy Review of the UAE has given it a much better understanding of the recent developments in the UAE's trade and trade-related policies and practices, together with the future challenges that it faces. Members of the WTO praised the UAE for its attempt to transform the economy into one that is knowledge-based, highly productive, and competitive. The WTO encouraged the UAE to continue in its reforms, stressing that a key challenge is to expand foreign participation in investment projects outside free trade zones, for which the current 49% foreign participation limit is an obstacle. The UAE also needs to improve its competition regime by adopting full-fledged competition legislation.

Additional elements of the review include:

• The WTO welcomed the UAE’s commitment to the multilateral trading system and encouraged it to further foster its participation given that it benefits from the open trading system and is relying on trade for its own goals of economic diversification.
• The UAE needs to bring bound rates closer to its applied tariff rates, and should facilitate the process to obtain a trade licence and to remove requirements for the legalisation and consularisation of trade documents.
• The UAE should speed-up the promulgation of its new law on the liberalisation of foreign investment and modernise the business environment. It should also eliminate local services/agent requirements, and increase the transparency, accountability, and effectiveness of government administration.
• The UAE could consider amending its government procurement regime by removing the requirement to employ a UAE national in order to submit tenders and to review its transparency procedures for all bidders as well as its offset programme. The UAE was also invited to join the Government Procurement Agreement as soon as possible.
• The WTO welcomed the passage of new legislation on protection of undisclosed information, and requested more information on compulsory licensing and on the programmes to increase awareness of IP protection. It also encouraged the UAE to further strengthen implementation and enforcement actions.
• Some members of the WTO requested that the UAE relax restrictions on new licences for foreign banks and branches of foreign banks. In the area of insurance services, members called for the lifting of the moratorium for new licences and to increase foreign equity in domestic insurance companies.

Concluding the review, the WTO says that it had confirmed the important role played by the UAE in the multilateral trading system and the benefits of maintaining an open economy.

April 9, 2012

Source: Tax News

• Wood exports maintain growth, but industry still faces dual pressure
• Workshop discusses support for businesses through better use of RCEP
• VCCI works with NA committee to remove difficulties for private sector
• Some 778 Vietnamese seafood enterprises licensed to export to Taiwan (China)
• Local authorities to directly issue fragrant rice export certificates from July 2026