Law No. (11) of 2016

Concerning the Dubai Protocol Department^{^[1]}

ــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ

We, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai,

After perusal of:

Federal Decree No. (69) of 1977 Establishing the Protocol Department and Determining its Functions;

Federal Law by Decree No. (4) of 2004 Establishing and Regulating the Ministry of Presidential Affairs;

Law No. (27) of 2006 Concerning Management of the Government of Dubai Human Resources and its amendments;

Law No. (1) of 2016 Concerning the Financial Regulations of the Government of Dubai; and

Executive Council Resolution No. (4) of 2015 Approving the Human Resources Bylaw of the Dubai Protocol Department,

Do hereby issue this Law.

Title of the Law

Article (1)

This Law will be cited as “Law No. (11) of 2016 Concerning the Dubai Protocol Department”.

Definitions

Article (2)

The following words and expressions, wherever mentioned in this Law, will have the meaning indicated opposite each of them unless the context implies otherwise:

UAE:	The United Arab Emirates.
Emirate:	The Emirate of Dubai.
Ruler:	His Highness the Ruler of Dubai.
Ruling Family:	This includes His Highness the Crown Prince of Dubai, His Highness the Deputy Ruler of Dubai, and other members of the Ruling Family.
DPD:	The Dubai Protocol Department.
Director General:	The director general of the DPD.
Protocol:	The duties performed by the DPD pursuant to this Law and the rules it adopts in respect of all matters related to the ceremonies, including welcoming and farewell ceremonies; interviews; meetings; events; occasions; accommodation; convoys; transportation; banquets; and similar activities involving the Ruler and the Ruling Family.

Scope of Application

Article (3)

The provisions of this Law apply to the DPD as a Government department having legal personality and the legal capacity required to achieve its objectives and perform its functions. The DPD is affiliated to the Ruler.

Objectives of the DPD

Article (4)

The DPD aims to:

1. manage and organise Protocol affairs in a manner that reflects the UAE Islamic and Arabic culture in accordance with the best international standards adopted in this respect;

2. promote the highly esteemed image of the Emirate and the cultural heritage of the UAE;

3. create a favourable environment for the guests of the Ruler and the Ruling Family;

4. promote the Protocol culture among the customers and strategic partners of the DPD; and

5. promote cooperation among, and build good relationships with, various Government Entities and non-government entities within and outside of the Emirate.

Functions of the DPD

Article (5)

For the purpose of achieving its objectives, the DPD will have the duties and powers to:

1. organise and handle all Protocol matters involving the Ruler and the Ruling Family during their domestic and overseas official visits and appearances;

2. cooperate and coordinate with the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and competent entities on all Protocol matters involving the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE;

3. cooperate and coordinate with the rulers' courts of other emirates on all matters related to the mutual visits of the rulers, crown princes, and deputy rulers;

4. organise and handle, in coordination with competent entities in the UAE, all Protocol matters involving the kings, presidents, vice presidents, crown princes, princes, and heads of governments of countries; other Arab and foreign senior officials visiting the UAE; and their accompanying delegations;

5. organise interviews and other official meetings of the Ruler and the Ruling Family;

6. coordinate with the concerned entities within and outside of the UAE on all matters related to the ceremonies hosted by the Ruler or the Ruling Family for signing conventions, agreements, and memoranda of understanding;

7. supervise, and coordinate with the competent entities, the organisation of events, functions, and banquets hosted by the Ruler and the Ruling Family;

8. cooperate and coordinate with the competent entities on organising and scheduling interviews and meetings of the Ruler and the Ruling Family with the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the UAE;

9. coordinate with the concerned entities on organising the visits of official delegations;

10. organise the welcoming and farewell ceremonies of the Ruler and the Ruling Family;

11. organise and manage all matters related to field visits and events attended by the Ruler and the Ruling Family within and outside of the Emirate;

12. provide, and organise ceremonies to grant or present, medals and gifts to the dignitaries and guests of the Emirate;

13. conduct studies and research related to its functions and objectives;

14. plan and implement Protocol training courses and programmes; and

15. perform any other duties required for the achievement of the objectives of the DPD under this Law.

Executive Body of the DPD

Article (6)

a. The executive body of the DPD will be comprised of the Director General and a number of specialized technical, administrative, and finance Employees.

b. The Director General will be appointed pursuant to a decree of the Ruler.

c. The Employees of the DPD will be appointed in accordance with the human resources legislation applicable to the DPD.

Functions of the Director General

Article (7)

a. The Director General will undertake general supervision of the work of the DPD and manage its affairs. For these purposes, the Director General will have the duties and powers to:

1. approve, and follow up the implementation of, the general policy and strategic and operational plans of the DPD;

2. supervise the achievement by the DPD of its objectives and the implementation of its functions under this Law and the protocols it adopts;

3. approve the annual budget and financial statements of the DPD, and submit the same to competent entities for final approval;

4. approve the DPD organisational structure, with a view to ensuring the efficient and effective distribution of duties to organisational units and fulfilment of their responsibilities;

5. approve the bylaws regulating the administrative, financial, and technical work of the DPD, including the bylaw regulating contracts and procurement;

6. enter into contracts, agreements, and memoranda of understanding with third parties;

7. approve the operational guidelines and Protocol rules in accordance with the relevant principles and the highest international standards and best international practices adopted in this respect;

8. represent the DPD before all entities within and outside of the UAE;

9. open, in accordance with the legislation in force, bank accounts in the name of the DPD with financial institutions within and outside of the UAE;

10. supervise and verify the proper performance by the DPD Employees of their employment duties; and

11. perform any other duties assigned to him by the Ruler or the Ruling Family, or assigned to him under the legislation in force.

b. The Director General may delegate any of the powers vested in him under paragraph (a) of this Article to any of the DPD Employees, provided that this delegation is specific and in writing.

Financial Resources of the DPD

Article (8)

The financial resources of the DPD will consist of:

1. the financial appropriations allocated to the DPD in the General Budget of the Government of Dubai; and

2. any other resources approved by Director General.

Accounts and Financial Year of the DPD

Article (9)

a. In managing its accounts, the DPD will apply the rules and principles of government accounting.

b. The financial year of the DPD will commence on 1 January and will end on 31 December of each year.

Providing Support

Article (10)

For the purpose of performing its functions under this Law, the DPD may seek assistance from Government Entities in the Emirate as it deems appropriate. Upon request, these entities must provide the DPD with the required support.

Issuing Implementing Resolutions

Article (11)

The Director General or his authorised representative will issue the resolutions required for the implementation of the provisions of this Law.

Repeals

Article (12)

Any provision in any other legislation will be repealed to the extent that it contradicts the provisions of this Law.

Commencement and Publication

Article (13)

This Law comes into force on the day on which it is issued, and will be published in the Official Gazette.

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Ruler of Dubai

Issued in Dubai on 25 September 2016

Corresponding to 23 Thu al-Hijjah 1437 A.H.

[1]Every effort has been made to produce an accurate and complete English version of this legislation. However, for the purpose of its interpretation and application, reference must be made to the original Arabic text. In case of conflict, the Arabic text will prevail.