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international law firms from Common Law jurisdictions has demonstrated
the application of Common Law principles in commercial contracts. This
indirectly has further influenced the UAE legal system. 30 Establishing
business in the UAE is subject to licensing requirements as well as foreign
investment restrictions. Businesses can be set up in the following two in-
vestment locations:

1. mainland UAE, and
2. Free Trade Zones (“FTZs”).
To regulate matters such as commercial transactions, commercial
agencies, civil transactions, labor relations, maritime affairs, intellectual
property, and commercial companies, a number of codified federal laws have
been passed. In addition, a number of local laws have also been passed in
various areas by individual Emirates. There are two main types of laws in the
UAE:
l federaldapplicable to the UAE as a whole and issued either by the leg-
islative body or by the Ministers of each Ministry (Ministerial Order);
l localddecrees and orders apply only to a particular Emirate (passed by the
Ruler or Crown Prince of a particular Emirate and issued by a member of
the Royal Family of that Emirate).
All emirates have brought their judicial systems into the UAE Federal
Judicial Authority except Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah. Dubai has retained its
own independent courts and judges, which are not a part of the UAE Federal
Judicial Authority. Dubai’s courts apply federal laws (e.g., Companies Law or
the Civil Code) as well as the laws and decrees enacted by the Ruler of Dubai,
in case the federal law is absent.
In 2004 the Dubai International Financial Center Courts (DIFC Courts)
were founded and they are an independent common law judiciary based in the
Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), with jurisdiction governing civil
and commercial disputes.
The DIFC Courts comprise international judges from common law juris-
dictions such as England, Malaysia, and New Zealand and their procedural
rules are largely modeled on English civil procedure rules. The official lan-
guage of the DIFC Courts is English. All proceedings are also conducted in
English.
The Dubai government has expanded the jurisdiction of the DIFC Courts,
which allow any parties (even not incorporated within the DIFC free zone) to
use the DIFC Courts to resolve commercial disputes. 31 Currently, regional

30. Doing business in the UAE, A business and tax profile, PKF Accountants & business advisers,
April 2012.
31. Previously, only companies based in the DIFC or those that had an issue related to the DIFC
could use the DIFC Courts.