Rödl & Partner informs in cooperation with DAFZA: Important changes in corporate income tax and data protection law

​​​published on 18 November 2022 | reading time approx. 3 minutes

Regarding this topic a seminar on the important changes in corporate tax as well as data protection law in the United Arab Emirates was held on Wednesday, 2 November 2022 at the Dubai Airport Freezone (DAFZA) in the Business Center (Al Majlis Hall) The seminar was in German language.

 

DAFZA is a free trade zone in the Emirate of Dubai. A large number of German medium-sized companies are located there. The speakers were our lawyers Omar Sami and Sebastian Luermann as well as our tax expert Luna Yousef.

 

During their one-and-a-half-hour presentation, our experts provided an overview of the challenges faced by companies based in the Freezone that accompany those legal changes. The main focus was on the upcoming introduction of corporate income tax next year, as well as the introduction of the UAE's first data protection law at the federal level.

 

Lawyer Omar Sami (left), tax consultant Luna Yousef (second from the left) and lawyer Sebastian Luermann (right) prepared companies for the future changes and answered questions about the new legal situation.

 

To help companies understand what they will face in the coming year, Omar Sami and Luna Yousef explained which companies will be affected by the tax and the amount of tax that will be levied, high-lighting local-specific risks associated with trade between free zone companies and state-owned enterprises.

 

The new corporate income tax will apply to companies in all emirates, with the exception of companies in the extraction of natural resources, which will continue to be subject to corporate income tax at the individual emirate level.

 

Companies must also prepare for significant changes in data protection law. Federal Decree-Law No. 45/202 on the Protection of Personal Data (PDPL) is the first federal-level data protection law which came into force in the UAE on 2 November 2022.

 

The new law aims to align with international data protection laws (in particular DSGVO) and create an important prerequisite for digital transactions.

 

Attorney Sebastian Luermann explained who is affected by the new law and what measures must be taken from now on to protect personal and sensitive data.

 

During the seminar, our experts addressed specific questions from the participants, so that a dynamic exchange also took place between the participants.