In applying the provisions of this Law, the following words shall have the meanings assigned thereto, unless the context requires otherwise:
State: United Arab Emirates.
Ministry: Ministry of Economy and Commerce.
Minister: Minister of Economy and Commerce.
Competent Authority: The relevant federal and local authority.
Chambers: The Chambers of Commerce and industry in the United Arab Emirates.
Union of Chambers: The Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
General Assembly: General Assembly of the Union.
Board of Directors (BOD): Board of Directors of the Union.
Chairman: Chairman of the Union’s Board of Directors and the Chairman of the Union.
Executive Office: The Union’s executive office.
General Secretariat: The Union’s general secretariat.

A Union shall be established for the UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry, named the “Union of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry,” and it shall consist of the UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The Union of Chambers shall have a legal personality, and it shall have the capacity to own and dispose of movable and immovable property and accept donations and bequests that do not conflict with the objectives thereof.

The Union of Chambers shall be considered a public institution with no profit-making objectives.
The headquarters shall be located in the city of Abu Dhabi; and it may establish one or more branches in the Emirates.

The Union of Chambers aims to achieve the following objectives:
1. Coordinating the activities of the chambers and unifying their efforts to ensure the achievement of the purposes for which they were established;
2. Working to overcome the obstacles and solve the problems faced by the chambers in carrying out their work in order to achieve objectives and goals hereof;
3. Supporting cooperation and coordination with federal and local authorities, as well as regional and international organisations and bodies whose activities are related to economic affairs, in the interest of the public good;
4. Caring for commercial, industrial, and other branches of economic activities related to them and contributing to their development;
5. Achieving harmony and cooperation between merchants, manufacturers, and professional associations in various economic sectors upon referral from the chambers; and
6. Supporting cooperation between merchants, manufacturers, and the government to reconcile the interests of traders with those of producers and consumers, in order to achieve public benefit.

The Union of Chambers shall exercise all the powers necessary to achieve the objectives hereof, and in particular, it shall have the following powers:
1. Organise conferences and workshops, both locally, regionally, and internationally, with an economic and commercial nature, or participate in them, and follow up on the implementation of the recommendations issued thereby;
2. Cooperate with the relevant authorities and chambers in promoting and developing national trade and industry, as well as increasing their investments and exports;
3. Collect and coordinate economic data, information, and statistics in cooperation with the relevant authorities;
4. Provide relevant authorities with data, statistics, research, and studies related to economic development in the country, upon request;
5. Provide opinions on draft laws and regulations related to economic affairs referred thereto by the relevant government authorities;
6. Study problems and difficulties related to commercial and industrial affairs and present the results of these studies to the concerned government institutions;
7. Participate in local, regional, and international committees formed to study issues related to commercial and industrial affairs, both within and outside the country;
8. Represent the chambers within the country and participate in economic negotiations conducted by federal authorities with other countries, organisations, and international bodies. It may, upon the request of local authorities, participate in their economic negotiations;
9. Represent the chambers in conferences, bodies, organisations, and exhibitions, whether local, regional, or international, that have an economic nature;
10. Conclude cooperation agreements with chambers, Unions, and economic organisations outside the country;
11. Issue periodicals and publications that include research, studies, and statistics of an economic nature;
12. Issue collective commercial and industrial directories at the national level and create information spaces on the internet, or grant individuals permission to issue them after an agreement with the concerned chambers;
13. Organise exhibitions and markets within the country and abroad, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and after coordinating with the competent authorities;
14. Settle commercial and industrial disputes through arbitration if the parties involved agree to refer the dispute thereto, and if the dispute involves persons from more than one chamber or any of those persons and a foreign entity, in accordance with the provisions of Federal Law No. 11 of 1992 regarding civil procedures;
15. Invite experts and specialists from governmental circles or other sectors to seek their opinions on matters falling within the Union competencies; and
16. Form committees within the Union of Chambers that work to achieve objectives hereof, with the executive regulations specifying the types, responsibilities, and working rules of these committees.

The Union of Chambers shall consist of:
1. General Assembly;
2. Board of Directors;
3. The BOD Executive Office; and
4. General Secretariat.

The General Assembly shall comprise all the state citizens who serve as members on the Chambers Boards of Directors, as officially notified to the Union of Chambers.

The General Assembly shall convene at least once a year at the request of the chairman, and the meeting shall be held at the headquarters of the Union of Chambers, one of its branches, or one of the chambers headquarters. It may also be called to convene at the request of the boards of directors of at least two chambers.
Both the minister and the BOD may call for an emergency meeting of the General Assembly
 

The invitation for the General Assembly to convene in its regular sessions shall be issued at least one month before the scheduled date of the meeting.
If the General Assembly is called to an emergency meeting, the invitation shall be issued at least ten days before the scheduled date of the meeting.

The agenda of the General Assembly shall be distributed to the members at least fifteen days before the scheduled date of the meeting. However, if the General Assembly is called to an emergency meeting, the agenda shall be attached to the invitation letter.

The sessions of the General Assembly shall be valid if attended by the absolute majority of its members. If the quorum is not met as specified, the meeting shall be postponed to another session held within the following twenty-one days, and the second meeting shall be considered valid regardless of the number of members present.

The decisions of the General Assembly shall be issued by the absolute majority of the votes of the members present, and the internal regulations of the Union of Chambers shall determine the method of voting.

The chairman shall preside over the General Assembly meeting, and in the absence of the chairman, the vice chairman shall assume this responsibility.

The General Assembly, in its regular meeting, shall consider the matters listed in the agenda, particularly the approval of the annual budget and the final accounts. It may also discuss any other matters not listed in the agenda, provided that a request signed by a majority of the board members of at least two chambers shall be submitted.

First: The Board of Directors shall consist of:
1. The heads of the Chambers' boards or whoever the Chairman of the Chamber's Board of Directors selects from among its board members as his representative.
2. A member from each Chamber selected by its board of directors.
3. The Secretary-General shall act as Rapporteur of the Board's sessions without having a counted vote. A representative of the Ministry may attend the Board sessions as an observer, and he shall not have a counted vote in the Board's deliberations.

1. The Board shall select in its first session from among the heads of the Chambers' boards of directors or their representatives a Chairman of the Board, and shall also select from among its members a vice-chairman, for a period of three (3) years. The selection process shall be carried out by secret ballot.
2. The Deputy Chairman shall replace the Chairman in his absence, and in the event of their absence, the Board shall select from among its members someone to perform the duties of the chairmanship, and in the event that the position of the Chairman or his deputy becomes vacant, the Board shall select in the first subsequent session someone to replace them to complete the period stipulated in Clause (1) of this Article.

The Chairman of the BOD shall be the Chairman of the Union of Chambers and represent it before third parties and in courts. The Chairman shall adhere to decisions and recommendations thereof and ensure their implementation.

The BOD shall meet at the invitation of its chairman at least once every three months or at any time upon the request of at least two chambers.

The BOD sessions shall be valid with the attendance of the majority of its members. Resolutions are passed by an absolute majority of the votes of the members present, and in case of a tie vote, the side of the session chairman shall prevail.
In urgent cases, matters may be presented to the BOD by circulation, and decisions in such cases shall only be issued unanimously.
 

The BOD shall establish the necessary regulations to implement the provisions of this law, which specifically address the following:
1. The rules related to organising the meetings of the General Assembly and the BOD;
2. The rules for election and voting;
3. The rules related to the formation of permanent and temporary committees;
4. The rules related to arbitration in disputes specified in Article (6) hereby;
5. The rules related to the management of the funds of the Union of Chambers;
6. The powers and responsibilities of the employees of the Union of Chambers, as well as the rules for their appointment, termination of services, and salaries;
7. The rules related to organising the records of the Union of Chambers;
8. The authorities related to the transfer of allocations from the Union of Chambers budget or exceeding the approved allocations within the total approved budget;
9. The rules related to determining and collecting the contributions of the chambers in the Union of Chambers budget; and
10. The rules for depositing the funds of the Union of Chambers in banks and the authorised entity for withdrawing from them.

The BOD is the authority responsible for overseeing the affairs of the Union of Chambers and managing its matters within the framework of the Union general policy and objectives, in accordance with the provisions of this law, its executive regulations, and the resolutions issued by the General Assembly.
In particular, the BOD shall undertake the following duties:
1. Implement the resolutions and recommendations of the General Assembly;
2. Supervise the administrative and financial operations and other activities of the Union of Chambers;
3. Review the drafts of the annual budget and the final accounts of the Union of Chambers in preparation for submitting them to the General Assembly; and
4. Undertake the matters referred thereto by the General Assembly or by the minister.

The BOD shall form an Executive Office consisting of the BOD chairman, deputy thereof, and three members selected from among its members, with the Secretary-General of the Union of Chambers serving as its rapporteur. The Executive Office shall be responsible for considering urgent matters concerning the Union of Chambers and taking the necessary decisions, which shall be presented for ratification at the first BOD meeting.
The BOD may delegate some of the competencies thereof to the Executive Office.

The Union of Chambers shall have a General Secretariat consisting of a Secretary-General, an Assistant Secretary-General, and a sufficient number of employees and staff. The Secretary-General and the Assistant Secretary-General shall be appointed upon a BOD decision. In addition, the employees and staff of the General Secretariat shall be appointed upon a decision of the BOD Chairman, based on the nomination of the Secretary-General.
The General Secretariat shall be responsible for implementing all the BOD decisions and managing the Union of Chambers administrative and financial affairs.
 

The Union of Chambers shall have an annual budget, with its financial year starting on the 1st of January each year and ending on the 31st of December of the same year. The first financial year shall begin from the date this law enters into force and end on the 31st of December of the following year.
The General Secretariat shall be responsible for preparing the draft budget and submitting it to the BOD at least three months before the beginning of the new financial year. It shall also be responsible for preparing the draft final accounts of the Union within ninety days following the end of the financial year and submitting them to the BOD, accompanied by the auditor report.
 

The BOD shall annually appoint an auditor who is registered in the list of practising auditors with the ministry. The auditor shall be responsible for auditing the accounts of the financial year for which they have been appointed and submitting a report on the audit results to the BOD, accompanied by their observations.

The resources of the Union shall consist of:
1. The allocations provided by the government to the Union of Chambers in the public budget;
2. The contributions made by the chambers;
3. The proceeds from the investment of the Union of Chambers resources and activities; and
4. Donations and bequests accepted by the BOD.

The funds of the Union shall be considered public funds and shall be subject to the rules related to public funds.

Each chamber shall contribute to the budget of the Union of Chambers an amount not less than fifty thousand Dirhams annually.

The funds of the Union of Chambers may only be spent for the purposes for which it was established. The BOD shall define the system for investing the surplus of these funds in accordance with the provisions of this law.

The Secretary-General, under the supervision of the BOD, shall be responsible for implementing the Union of Chambers budget and organising accounts thereof.

Federal Law No. (5) of 1976, referred to above, shall be repealed, as well as any provision that conflicts with or contradicts the provisions of this law.

This Law shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall enter into force as of the date of its publication.