Abu Dhabi (WAM)
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, chaired the Cabinet meeting, which was held at Expo 2020 Dubai, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy The Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and His Highness Lieutenant-General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, and His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, where a number of initiatives, legislation and policies were adopted within the agenda of the meeting aimed at continuing Develop government work.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “Today, I chaired the first meeting of the Council of Ministers in the new year and in the new fiftieth, the beginning of goodness and blessings on a blessed Friday, God willing, our first decision was to start implementing our plan to completely change the methodology of the work of the federal government during the period The coming…more transformational projects..and faster..and full focus on creating the most active and best economy in the world.”
His Highness also said: “The beginning of the new government change will be through announcing soon changes that include granting ministries greater powers to adopt their plans and more financial flexibility…shorter strategic courses…and national priorities based on the fifty principles adopted by the President of the State, may God protect him, for the next fifty years. ».
His Highness added: “Today, within the cabinet meeting, we approved the issuance of a new law for sports in the country… a law regulating the sports movement system, including sports councils, federations, Olympic committees, and others… and working on laying new foundations to raise the efficiency of the country’s external sports representation in international sports forums.”
His Highness also said: “Today, we approved, in our session, the executive regulations for labor relations in the country… to guarantee rights… and raise the efficiency of the workforce… and to organize new forms of work such as free, flexible and temporary work, owners of golden residency, and others… We have 12 types of work permits in our laws Our goal is to establish the best, most flexible and diversified business environment.”
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum added yesterday: “In today’s Friday session in the Council of Ministers, we approved new regulations and systems for preserving industrial property and inventions related to the defense industries, as well as mechanisms for accelerating patent registration and preserving the rights to research microorganisms and others. We are legislatively ready for a different and upcoming economic phase.” His Highness also said: “Today, in our session, we adopted a quick digital procurement policy for the federal government… a new committee for smart learning in our schools… and 13 agreements to encourage investment and avoid double taxation… and to adopt the state’s accession to leaders for nature within the United Nations climate change conventions.”
His Highness concluded: “Our start is promising… and our launch in 2022 will be great, God willing.”
Organizing work relationships
In detail, the Council of Ministers approved, during its meeting, the executive regulations of the Federal Decree-Law on Regulating Labor Relations, which aims with its articles to provide a stimulating and attractive work environment for employers, and to create an advanced system of mechanisms that enhance business ease, productivity and competitiveness of the labor market, and ensure its efficiency in a manner that ensures attracting the best skills And future efficiencies of employment are maintained.
The regulation also aims to guarantee the rights of workers and employers in a balanced manner that provides protection for both parties, supports the stability and welfare of workers in the private sector, and supports their skills and capabilities in a manner that enhances the efficiency and productivity of the workforce in the labor market in the UAE. The regulation includes among its items new patterns of work, which allow employers to meet their labor needs, and benefit from their productivity and energies at the lowest operational costs through flexible work, temporary work and part-time work, as well as types of work permits, mechanisms for working in the self-employment system, organizing work contracts, and regulations Work and its hours, organizing annual leave, bonuses and wages for workers in the private sector, requirements for providing safety and prevention for workers in establishments, resolving labor disputes and others.
Regulation and protection of industrial property rights
The Council approved the executive regulations of the federal law regarding the regulation and protection of industrial property rights, which aims to regulate and protect industrial property and regulate procedures for its registration, use, exploitation and assignment, in order to ensure support for knowledge and innovation in the state, and works to enhance the state’s competitiveness in the field of industrial property rights in accordance with best practices. International.
The regulation included various procedural matters and requirements related to submitting and examining industrial property rights applications in terms of patents, utility certificates, industrial designs, integrated circuits and undisclosed information, in addition to specifying the documents required in various industrial property rights applications, taking into account the international agreements emanating from the World Trade Organization. and the Intellectual Property Organization.
The executive regulation of the law includes a number of major additions that have been included, including the mechanism for converting patent applications into utility certificates or utility certificates into patents, regulating the fast track of industrial property rights applications, the mechanism for segmenting industrial property rights applications, and determining controls related to the interrelationship of inventions. The regulation clarifies the various aspects related to the deposit of microorganisms, the technical and legal bases for calculating the principle of priority submission for the same invention, the mechanisms for substantive and formal examination and documents related to industrial property rights applications, and controls for formulating protection claims in accordance with international requirements, and the requirements and data of the industrial property rights registry. And the conditions and procedures related to the correction and amendment of industrial property rights applications, and the legal and technical considerations related to dividing, transferring, withdrawing, transferring and publishing the application.
Sports Law
In legislative affairs, the Council of Ministers approved, within the agenda of its meeting, the issuance of the Sports Law in the United Arab Emirates, which regulates the sports movement in an integrated manner and regulates the relationship between the General Sports Authority and between clubs, associations, committees, federations and sports authorities in the country.
The law targets sports bodies and related institutions, as its adoption supports the sports movement system, in particular sports councils, national sports federations and the National Olympic Committee. That contributes to this, in addition to supporting talented athletes through cooperation with various sports authorities. The law also contributes to regulating the relationship between the sports sector and the quality and accessibility of services provided, and raising the efficiency of the state’s external representation in international activities and forums.
Digital Procurement Policy
During its meeting, the Cabinet approved the Federal Government’s Digital Procurement Policy, which defines the principles, controls and standards for procurement operations and the main exceptions for federal entities, with the aim of promoting and directing purchases in federal entities in line with the federal government’s digital agenda.
Among its objectives, the policy aims to develop a new approach that makes procurement processes in the federal government more rapid and flexible to reduce the duration of procurement procedures, through the government procurement platform as part of the leadership’s efforts to support digital transformation in procurement processes at the federal level in line with the vision and strategy of the UAE development and the vision of the Emirates, and with the aim of Enhancing the efficiency of government spending in the federal government, and the procurement policy has been developed based on best practices and global policies for procurement operations and in line with digital procurement systems, as the procurement system supports the implementation of leading policies at all stages of the procurement process during procurement, contracting and purchasing.
The federal government’s digital procurement policy focuses on engaging all relevant stakeholders and participants in the purchase of products or services in the federal authorities and ensuring their efficient and effective implementation of operations to ensure quality and achieve spending efficiency, and to obtain high-quality products or services through the digital procurement system, in a manner that achieves efficiency and effectiveness. It provides flexibility in responding to market changes and to ensure obtaining competitive prices and offers.
The National Regulation of Green Building Conditions and Specifications
In its meeting, the Council approved an optional national regulation for the conditions and specifications of green buildings “in relation to sustainability and rationalization of energy and water” at the state level, which is a framework for the unification of classifications and requirements at the federal and local levels, with the aim of supporting all stakeholders in the state to adopt unified foundations that guarantee the application of new standards developed sustainable for buildings. It is environmentally friendly according to international standards, in terms of energy and water conservation and sustainability. The regulation specified a package of standards, conditions and requirements, ensuring a more sustainable environment for future generations, saving energy and water consumption, reducing the carbon footprint of construction and operation and reducing waste, by encouraging a policy of recycling waste at construction sites, and ensuring the quality of buildings and the environment, in order to achieve the happiness and well-being of its users. .
The Council agreed to adopt the implementation of the regulation voluntarily in the short term at a rate of two years, in coordination with all the competent authorities at the federal and local levels, and to present the results of the application to the Council of Ministers before the mandatory implementation.
Re-formation of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking
In governmental regulatory affairs, the Council approved the re-formation of the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, headed by His Excellency Abdullah Sultan bin Awad Al Nuaimi, Minister of Justice. To combat human trafficking in all its forms, and contribute to improving the level of services provided by the National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking, which is reflected in the UAE’s competitiveness in international competitiveness indicators in general, and in the efficiency index of the judicial system in particular.
The Council also approved a decision to reconstitute the Higher Committee to supervise the “Mohammed bin Rashid Smart Learning Program” for a period of three years, headed by His Excellency Hussain Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, with the aim of continuing to develop an innovative environment for education using smart interactive learning, and harnessing information and communication technology to enable the educational authority to measure Learning outcomes and skills, and linking the student and the teacher with future cognitive and technical skills.
The committee includes Her Excellency Jamila Salem Al Muhairi, Minister of State for Public Learning, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Foundation for School Education, and a number of officials.
The Council also approved a decision to establish the Executive Office for Control and Non-Proliferation to be the authority concerned with implementing the decree by federal law regarding goods subject to the prohibition of proliferation. And developing systems and procedures that support its work.
The Council approved a decision on linking the federal customs systems in the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security with all local customs systems through a unified platform aimed at integration between customs departments, relevant authorities and the business sector and organizing requirements related to import, export, transit and security information.
In international affairs and relations, the Council of Ministers ratified and approved a number of agreements in the context of strengthening and developing international relations and contributing to supporting the state’s agenda in economic and development diversification. It included 6 agreements between the state and a number of countries on avoiding double taxation on income. The countries include Jamaica, The Commonwealth of Dominica, the Democratic Republic of Algeria, the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, the Republic of Finland, and the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.
In the same context, the Council approved the signing of 7 agreements between the state and a number of countries on the protection and encouragement of investment, namely the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the Republic of Mozambique, the Republic of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Spain, the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Council of Ministers also approved the agreement on the system of linking payment systems between the countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, as it is the legal umbrella for the payments and settlement system among the countries of the Gulf, while the Council approved the state’s accession to the pledge of leaders for nature within the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change of the United Nations.
Within the agenda of its meeting, the Council reviewed the report of the strategic food stockpile during 2021, which confirmed the efficiency of the food supply chain operations to the country to meet the local need for food, the annual report of the country’s participation in the activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization “FAO” of the United Nations, and the report on the achievements in the climate change file. .
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