In the UAE mainland, there is a duty of confidentiality and there are no differences in how the confidentiality operates in civil, criminal, regulatory or investigatory situations.

In the context of anti-money laundering, article 15 of Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism was recently replaced by virtue of article 1 of Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2021. This provides that if institutions, businesses and service providers suspect that certain funds or transactions are related to crime they are required to inform the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and provide all necessary documents and reports that support their suspicions directly. In circumstances where the FIU request additional information regarding the matter said institutions will not be able to use provisions regarding confidentiality to deny turning in any documents. However, legal professionals will be exempt if the information was acquired under professional confidentiality.

Article 17 of Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism was recently replaced by virtue of article 1 of Federal Decree-Law No. 26 of 2021. This provides that any information that has come into the possession of authorities regarding suspicious funds and transactions shall be deemed confidential by law and will only be used for necessary investigations and cases in relation to the violation of the provision.

In the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), it is likely that the DIFC courts would rely on the law of England and Wales regarding legal principles of privilege when determining any such differences.

In the UAE mainland, the notes taken by in-house counsel during an employee’s interview or any other documents produced during investigations are unlikely to be considered subject to the legal advice confidentiality requirement. However, article 380 (bis) of the Penal Code provides that it is a crime to unlawfully copy, distribute or provide a third party with the content of a telephone call, message, information, data or anything else viewed/examined while performing their job. This may potentially apply to all types of communication. There are no precedents on the application of this new legislative text.