Category: Intel

The Supreme Court held that an agreement to purchase real estate in Oman on behalf of foreign investors does not constitute a commercial agency under the Commercial Agencies Law, as it does not involve promoting or distributing foreign goods. Consequently, the failure to register such an agreement with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry does not invalidate the contractual obligations of the parties.

The Supreme Court ruled that powers of attorney issued in GCC member states do not require foreign legalisation procedures to be valid in Oman. Separately, a court-approved settlement is a judicial judgment, but breaching articles 162 and 171 of the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law does not render it void, because the law does not prescribe nullity as the penalty for those breaches.

The Supreme Court held that a religious fatwa issued by the Grand Mufti is not binding on the judiciary because the objective of a religious fatwa is simply to respond to the query of the inquirer based on the facts they present.

The Supreme Court held that regularly maintained commercial books constitute valid evidence for a merchant against an adversary merchant in disputes concerning commercial acts, even if the commercial books are created by the merchant relying on them.