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In the second of two articles on the Hormuz toll crisis, Mohamed Eissa of Hadef & Partners examines the practical commercial and legal consequences of Iran's $1 to $2 million transit toll, covering who bears the cost under time charters, voyage charters, and CIF and FOB sale contracts, what war risk insurance covers and where coverage disputes are building, and what shipowners, commodity traders, and in-house counsel should do. The article includes a multi-party hypothetical scenario illustrating how a single toll demand generates simultaneous disputes across sanctions law, charterparty performance, cargo obligations, insurance coverage, and UAE court jurisdiction.
A transit toll on the Strait of Hormuz is unlawful under international law, and paying it is likely to expose parties to criminal or civil liability under applicable sanctions regimes. In this first of two articles on the Hormuz toll crisis, Mohamed Eissa of Hadef & Partners examines why the toll violates UNCLOS and longstanding customary international law predating it on multiple independent grounds, why the non-ratification argument advanced in support of the toll fails on its own terms, and how the resulting sanctions compliance trap places shipowners, commodity traders, and their counsel in a position of legal impossibility that no single instrument currently resolves. The second article addresses how the toll is allocated under charterparty and trade term frameworks, what insurance covers, and what practitioners should do now.
Ministerial Decision No. 24 of 2026 (the MD) has recently been issued to supplement Cabinet Decision No. 215 of 2025 (the CD), establishing a Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit framework in the context of the UAE Corporate Tax (CT) and UAE Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (DMTT)(R&D Tax Incentive regime). The establishment of the R&D Tax Incentive regime marks a milestone in the UAE’s ambition to be a global hub for future industries by introducing a significant incentive for businesses to conduct R&D activities in the UAE (and subsequently retaining the associated IP in the UAE through several IP initiatives). In this newsflash we will provide an overview of the R&D Tax Incentive regime and its practical implications for UAE taxable persons in the context of the CT and DMTT.
For family offices, diversification is no longer assessed solely by reference to investment allocation. It is increasingly being considered by reference to legal structure, governance and succession planning. In the UAE, that discussion has gained depth as the structuring environment has evolved, giving families broader options for holding, managing and transitioning wealth in a more deliberate and resilient manner.
The UAE education sector remains resilient during regional instability due to a strong and adaptive regulatory framework. This enables flexible learning models while ensuring compliance and safeguarding, and supports long-term growth through effective use of technology and data protection, reinforcing the UAE’s position as a stable global education hub.
On 9 April 2026, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (“VARA”) issued its Guidance on the Virtual Assets Issuance Rulebook (the “Guidance”), providing detailed interpretative support on the regulatory framework governing the issuance of virtual assets in Dubai.
In this article , Patrick Tweedale, Partner, Corporate M&A at Hadef & Partners, Paul Wynne, Partner, Corporate M&A, Shayna Amar, Associate, Corporate M&A, consider these issues from a buyer’s perspective and highlight the protections that buyers may seek to prioritise in the current environment.
In this article, Patrick Tweedale, Partner, Corporate M&A at Hadef & Partners, Paul Wynne, Partner, Corporate M&A, Ammar Abdulazim, Associate, Corporate M&A, focus on how AI is being deployed in practice across transactions, what the next phase of adoption may look like, and the emerging risks associated with AI.
In this briefing, Catriona McDevitt, Partner and Head of Banking & Finance at Hadef & Partners, summarises the key elements of the Guidance Note and outlines the practical implications for banks, insurers and other licensed financial institutions (LFIs) in the UAE.
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