Author: BC X

The courts in Oman are subject to the supervision of the Supreme Judicial Council, an independent body chaired by His Majesty the Sultan. They are not associated with the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs or any other entity falling under the executive branch of the government. This document will outline the constitutional background of the judiciary, the structure of the Omani court system, and the key laws that govern the judiciary and litigation procedures.

The Omani legal system grants treaties the power of law upon their ratification, making them extremely important. This document will provide an overview of treaties, the process under the Omani legal system for joining a treaty, and a highlight of some of the most important treaties that Oman routinely ratifies.

The Oman Commercial Arbitration Centre (مركز عمان للتحكيم التجاري) is an Omani public-interest private entity established in 2018. It provides arbitration, mediation, and conciliation services.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion (وزارة التجارة والصناعة وترويج الاستثمار) is the body responsible for regulating commerce and industry and for promoting investment in the Sultanate of Oman. It is responsible for maintaining the Commercial Register, setting standards, registering intellectual property, and protecting the market from anti-competitive and monopolistic practices, among other things.

The Foreign Ministry (وزارة الخارجية) is the body responsible for managing all foreign relations of the Sultanate of Oman and is the official channel for communicating with other states. Its responsibilities include carrying out the procedures for issuing royal decrees acceding into and ratifying treaties and also attesting official documents issued by the Omani government.

Companies in Oman are primarily regulated by the Commercial Companies Law (CCL), which provides the legal framework for establishing companies, the types of companies available, incorporation requirements, as well as shareholder and director rights and obligations. This document provides an overview of the types of companies available under the CCL.

The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs (وزارة العدل والشؤون القانونية) was established in the year 2020 as the successor to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Legal Affairs. Its primary functions are reviewing legislation, issuing legal opinions to government entities, reviewing government contracts worth more than 5,000,000 Rial Omani, reviewing international agreements, supervising lawyers, regulating expert undertakings before the courts, and publishing the Official Gazette.

The Basic Statute of the State is the constitution of the Sultanate of Oman. It was issued for the very first time by Sultan Qaboos in 1996 and then amended in 2011. Sultan Haitham issued a new revamped Basic Statute of the State in 2021 with a number of amendments, the most important being the process for the appointment of a crown prince.

The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs (MJLA) deemed the Corporate Governance Principles for Government-Owned Companies issued by the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to be invalid due to the failure of the CMA to publish such principles in the Official Gazette and the lack of competence of the Executive President of the CMA to issue them. The MJLA also held that companies subordinate to the Oman Investment Authority are not exempt from the scope of such principles.

An employee of German nationality sued his employer for unlawful dismissal and claimed compensation. The Primary Court in Muscat sided with the employee and ordered the employer to pay the employee compensation, but this decision was later overturned by the Supreme Court in Muscat on the grounds that the Primary Court in Muscat had no jurisdiction to rule on this matter due to the existence of an arbitration clause between the employee and the employer. The Supreme Court ruled that the arbitration clause is invalid because it constituted a waiver of workers' rights that are guaranteed by the Labour Law and referred the case back to the Court of Appeal in Muscat to reconsider its merits.