Federal Decree Law Regarding Public Finance

Article 1 — Definitions ¶

Chapter Two: Objectives and scope of application hereof

Article 3 — Decree-Law Application Scope ¶

Chapter Three: Financial and Administrative Powers

Article 9 — Presenting the draft financial legislation to the Ministry ¶

Chapter Four: Responsibilities and obligations of the federal entities and their employees

Article 11 — Federal Entities Obligations ¶

Chapter Five: General Provisions of the General Budget

Article 20 — Accounts Structure ¶

Chapter Six: Preparation of General Budget

Article 34 — Registration of Grants ¶

Chapter Seven: Approval for the General Budget

Article 37 — Monthly Provisional Financial Appropriations ¶

Chapter Eight: Amendment to the General Budget

Article 39 — Supplementary Budget ¶

Chapter Nine: Implementation of the General Budget

Article 54 — Periodic Reports ¶

Chapter Ten: Follow-up of Implementation of the General Budget

Article 56 — Federal Entities Reports ¶

Article (56) (bis) Governmental Companies Reports

Chapter Eleven: Financial Resources of Federal Entities

Article 65 — Private Sector Participation ¶

Chapter Twelve: Federal Entities Final Account

Article 68 — Federal Entity Draft Final Account ¶

Article (68) (bis) Independent Federal Entities Final Accounts Auditing

Chapter Thirteen: Federal Government Consolidated Final Account

Article 74 — Documents Retention ¶

Article (74) (bis) Disclosure Requirements Restrictions

Article 79 — Non-enforceability of Federal Entities' Debts to Limitation Periods ¶

Article (79) (bis) Follow-up and Review of the State Dues

Article 86 — Publication and Enforcement of the Law ¶

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Federal Decree Law No. (26) of 2019 Regarding Public Finance

We Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates
- Having reviewed the Constitution; - Federal Law No. (1) of 1972 on the Competences of Ministries a... [preview truncated]
We do hereby promulgate the following Decree Law:

Chapter One: Definitions

Article (1) Definitions
In application of the provisions of this Law by Decree, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings assigned to them: State; Government; Ministry; Minister; Bank; Federal Entities; Chairman of the Federal Entity; Independent Federal Entities; Governmental Companies; Fiscal Year; General State Budget Law; General Budget; Supplementary Budget; General Financial Management; Consolidated Chart of Accounts; Financial Strategy (Financial Framework); Medium-Term; Medium-Term Budget Framework; Medium-Term Expenditure Framework; Programmes; Capital Projects; New Capital Projects; Unified Treasury Account; Trust money; Financial Appropriations; Mid-Year; Budget Review; Federal Entity Final Account; Consolidated Final Account; Consolidated Final Account Approval Law; Approved Accounting Standards; Contingent Expenses; General Revenues; Government Guarantee; Cash Reserve; Special Reserve. [Preview only - full definitions not captured verbatim]

Chapter Two: Objectives and scope of application hereof

Article (2) The objectives
This Decree Law aims at achieving the following: (1) Determining the rules for preparing the general... [preview truncated]

Article (3) Decree-Law Application Scope
The provisions of the present Decree-Law shall apply to the Federal Entities classified for its purp... [preview truncated]

Chapter Three: Financial and Administrative Powers

Article (4) Powers of the Cabinet
(1) The Cabinet shall have the following powers: A. Approval or amendment of the medium-term Financi... [preview truncated]

Article (5) Minister Powers
Upon the approval of the Cabinet, the Minister shall specify the State funds and resources managemen... [preview truncated]

Article (6) Ministry Competences
The Ministry shall: (1) Prepare the financial policy of the Federal Government; (2) Prepare the Medi... [preview truncated]

Article (7) Management of public funds
The management of public funds exercised by the Minister in accordance with the provisions hereof ai... [preview truncated]

Article (8) Government Banking Procedures
The Minister or his authorized representative shall open government bank accounts, subject to the fo... [preview truncated]

Article (9) Presenting the draft financial legislation to the Ministry
All draft laws and bylaws that result in creating financial obligations or implications on the gener... [preview truncated]

Chapter Four: Responsibilities and obligations of the federal entities and their employees

Article (10) Responsibilities and obligations of the federal entities and their employees
(1) The decentralization and powers of the federal entities shall not prejudice their responsibility... [preview truncated]

Article (11) Federal Entities Obligations
1. In coordination with the Ministry, the Federal Entities shall: a. Meet the objectives specified i... [preview truncated]

Chapter Five: General Provisions of the General Budget

Article (12) General Budget
The general budget is the financial program of federal entities, which includes all their estimated ... [preview truncated]

Article (13) Independent Budgets
The laws of the independent federal service entities, including independent federal entities whose b... [preview truncated]

Article (14) Submitting Independent Budgets
The independent federal entities are obliged to submit their budget to the Ministry for approval in ... [preview truncated]

Article (15) Insertion into Draft Law for Linking the General Budget
(1) The Ministry is obliged to register the budget appropriations of the independent federal entitie... [preview truncated]

Article (16) Medium-term Budget Draft Laws
Under a decision of the Cabinet, the federal entities may be authorized to prepare a draft budget fo... [preview truncated]

Article (17) Medium-term Budget Amendments
In preparing the draft law for linking the general budget for each year of the medium-term plan, the... [preview truncated]

Article (18) Medium-term Budget Framework
The Medium-term Budget Framework shall point out the basis upon which the total expenditures ceiling... [preview truncated]

Article (19) Disclosure of In-Kind Support
Federal Entities authorized to obtain in-kind support shall disclose such support and the value ther... [preview truncated]

Article (20) Accounts Structure
(1) The Cabinet shall issue the Consolidated Accounts Structure upon the Ministry's proposal and the... [preview truncated]

Chapter Six: Preparation of General Budget

Article (21) Financial Circular on Regulations of Preparation of the Draft General Budget
The Minister shall issue a financial circular to the Federal Entities within the first week of the t... [preview truncated]

Article (22) Study and Analysis of Federal Entities' Initial Estimates
The Federal Entities included in the General Budget shall prepare the initial estimates of their fin... [preview truncated]

Article (23) Delay of the Federal Entities in Submitting the Draft General Budget
In case any Federal Entity delayed in submitting the draft Budget thereof to the Ministry on the dat... [preview truncated]

Article (24) New Capital Projects
Upon proposing New Capital Projects based on the long-term capital expenditure plans, the Federal En... [preview truncated]

Article (25) Appropriations for Completion of the Capital Projects
The executing Federal Entity shall, in coordination with the Ministry, propose the Financial Appropr... [preview truncated]

Article (26) Study and Assessment of the New Capital Projects
(1) The Ministry responsible for developing the infrastructure shall study, assess and approve the N... [preview truncated]

Article (27) Special Reserve
The Ministry shall annually estimate and allocate an amount for the Special Reserve within the Gener... [preview truncated]

Article (28) Resources Estimation
The Federal Entities shall estimate their financial resources and indicate the basis upon which the ... [preview truncated]

Article (29) Balanced-Budget Principle
The Ministry shall endeavour to achieve a balanced-budget principle between the total financial reso... [preview truncated]

Article (30) Maximum Limit of Expenditures
If the total estimates of the initial expenditures exceed the estimates of the Federal Entities' ini... [preview truncated]

Article (31) Draft Law for Linking the General Budget
(1) The Ministry shall prepare the draft Medium-term Budget Framework and submit the same to the Cab... [preview truncated]

Article (32) Classification of Resources
When preparing the draft Law for linking General Budget, the Federal Entities' annual financial reso... [preview truncated]

Article (33) Classification of Expenditures
When preparing the draft Law for linking General Budget, all annual expenditures shall be classified... [preview truncated]

Article (34) Registration of Grants
The estimates of the grants, donations, endowments among others that are accepted by the Federal Ent... [preview truncated]

Chapter Seven: Approval for the General Budget

Article (35) Draft Law for Linking the General Budget
The draft Law for linking the General Budget, the Budgets of the Independent Federal Entities and th... [preview truncated]

Article (36) Notification of the Budget
The Ministry shall notify the Federal Entities of the Financial Appropriations allocated thereto for... [preview truncated]

Article (37) Monthly Provisional Financial Appropriations
In case the Law for linking the General Budget was not issued before the beginning of the Fiscal Yea... [preview truncated]

Chapter Eight: Amendment to the General Budget

Article (38) Amendment to the General Budget
All off-budget expenditures, the expenditures exceeding the estimates mentioned in one category and ... [preview truncated]

Article (39) Supplementary Budget
(1) The Ministry shall refer a draft federal law on the Supplementary Budget to the Cabinet in any o... [preview truncated]

Chapter Nine: Implementation of the General Budget

Article (40) Implementation of the General Budget
The Federal Entities' financial resources and expenditures stemmed from transactions carried out dur... [preview truncated]

Article (41) Accounting System
The Government shall apply the accrual basis of accounting system in accordance with the UAE account... [preview truncated]

Article (42) Accounting Standards Board
(1) Upon the Minister's decision, a government accounting standards board comprising employees from ... [preview truncated]

Article (43) Compliance with the Financial Appropriations
(1) In implementing the budget, the Federal Entities shall comply with the limits of the financial a... [preview truncated]

Article (44) Contracts Conclusion
The Federal Entities may not enter into contracts that may incur financial obligations exceeding the... [preview truncated]

Article (45) Adherence to Total Cost of the Projects
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article (44) hereof, the total cost of the Capital Projects mentio... [preview truncated]

Article (46) Multiannual Financial Appropriations Allocation
The allocation of multiannual Financial Appropriations may be provided for in the General State Budg... [preview truncated]

Article (47) Non-budgeted Projects
Upon obtaining the Cabinet's approval, the Federal Entities may establish Capital Projects, enter in... [preview truncated]

Article (48) Non-Completion of the Capital Projects
In case any of the Capital Projects was not completed during the Fiscal Year, the Financial Appropri... [preview truncated]

Article (49) Controls of Disbursement of Expenditures
The Federal Entities shall spend on the projects included in the General Budget in accordance with t... [preview truncated]

Article (50) Transfers
Subject to the provisions of Article (38) hereof, financial transfers shall be made in accordance wi... [preview truncated]

Article (51) Use of the Special Reserve
The Special Reserve mentioned in Article (27) hereof may, in accordance with the provisions of a dec... [preview truncated]

Article (52) Non-executed Financial Appropriation
Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles (48) and (49) hereof, any budgetary Financial Approp... [preview truncated]

Article (53) Maintaining Records and Reports
The Federal Entity shall maintain comprehensive electronic records and supporting documents regardin... [preview truncated]

Article (54) Periodic Reports
The Ministry shall provide the Cabinet with a biannual report on the Federal Government financial st... [preview truncated]

Chapter Ten: Follow-up of Implementation of the General Budget

Article (55) Control and Internal Auditing
(1) The competent administrative departments in the Federal Entities shall control implementation of... [preview truncated]

Article (56) Federal Entities Reports
The Federal Entities shall provide the Ministry with the required monthly and biannual financial rep... [preview truncated]

Article (56) (bis) Governmental Companies Reports
The governmental companies determined by the Cabinet, based on the Minister proposal, shall provide ... [preview truncated]

Chapter Eleven: Financial Resources of Federal Entities

Article (57) Types of Resources
The financial resources of Federal Entities to be collected for purposes of budget preparation consi... [preview truncated]

Article (58) Taxation
The Cabinet shall impose or exempt the federal fees or returns of different types, except taxes, und... [preview truncated]

Article (59) Collection of Resources
Subject to the terms and conditions for the acceptance of earmarked grants, donations, endowments an... [preview truncated]

Article (60) Local Fees
The Federal Entities shall not add or collect any fees for and local authority in any emirate unless... [preview truncated]

Article (61) Deductions from Resources
The Federal Entities shall not deduct any amounts of their resources under any circumstances or for ... [preview truncated]

Article (62) Deposition of Resources
In accordance with Article (8) hereof, the Federal Entities shall deposit the collected resources to... [preview truncated]

Article (63) Grants, Contributions, Donations and the Like
(1) The Federal Entities may accept grants, contributions, donations and the like that are consisten... [preview truncated]

Article (64) Conclusion of Revenue-Sharing Contracts
No Federal Entity shall conclude any contracts with the private institutions, companies and relevant... [preview truncated]

Article (65) Private Sector Participation
No Federal Entity may enter into a contract with a private juristic person with the purpose of parti... [preview truncated]

Chapter Twelve: Federal Entities Final Account

Article (66) Financial Circular
The Minister shall issue a financial circular to all Federal Entities setting the rules, regulations... [preview truncated]

Article (67) Rules and Dates of Account Closure and Preparing the Final Account
(1) Accounting periods shall be closed up to a maximum of the eighth day of the following month. (2)... [preview truncated]

Article (68) Federal Entity Draft Final Account
(1) Notwithstanding the provisions mentioned in the laws of establishing the Independent Federal Ent... [preview truncated]

Article (68) (bis) Independent Federal Entities Final Accounts Auditing
(1) An independent federal entity may appoint a third-party auditor if provided for in the relevant ... [preview truncated]

Chapter Thirteen: Federal Government Consolidated Final Account

Article (69) Draft Consolidated Final Account
(1) The Ministry shall prepare the consolidated final account, according to the provisions of the pr... [preview truncated]

Article (70) Consolidated Final Accounts Draft Law
(1) The Minister shall refer the Consolidated Final Accounts Draft Law in its final version no later... [preview truncated]

Article (71) Building up the Cash Reserve
(1) The Ministry shall prepare a report illustrating the mechanism by which the Cash Reserve, specif... [preview truncated]

Article (72) Investing the Government Funds
Subject to the provisions of Federal Decree Law No. (4) of 2007 and the amendments thereof, the Mini... [preview truncated]

Article (73) Deposition of Excess Funds
(1) All Federal Entities shall deposit any excess funds resulted from the annual budget approved the... [preview truncated]

Chapter Fourteen: Final Provisions

Article (74) Documents Retention
(1) All financial and administrative documents, registers and instruments of different types that ha... [preview truncated]

Article (74) (bis) Disclosure Requirements Restrictions
No information, data, or reports may be released or circulated if doing so would: a. harm the State ... [preview truncated]

Article (75) Transfer of Financial Appropriations and Allocations
(1) In case a Federal Entity has undergone restructuring, merger or dissolution, or in case any prog... [preview truncated]

Article (76) Trust Money
(1) The Federal Entity shall enter and list the received trust money as a liability in its accountin... [preview truncated]

Article (77) Government Guarantees
(1) The Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Ministry, may grant guarantees and pledges for payment... [preview truncated]

Article (78) Limitation of Third-Party Debts
(1) Any claim for debts or entitlements owed by the Federal Government entities that have not been s... [preview truncated]

Article (79) Non-enforceability of Federal Entities' Debts to Limitation Periods
No limitation periods shall be applied to the Federal Entities' debts or claims filed against third ... [preview truncated]

Article (79) (bis) Follow-up and Review of the State Dues
(1) The Ministry shall review the State dues. To accomplish this, the Ministry has the power to revi... [preview truncated]

Article (80) Interruption of the Limitation Period
The limitation period provided in Article (76/3) and (78) hereof shall be interrupted in case of fil... [preview truncated]

Article (81) Debt Relief and Write-off
(1) The Cabinet may relief the Federal Entities or individuals from the debts and entitlements, in w... [preview truncated]

Article (82) Inventory Committees
(1) A permanent inventory committee shall be established in each Federal Entity by a decision of the... [preview truncated]

Article (83) Disciplinary Penalties
Without prejudice to any penalty mentioned in any other law, every employee breaching the provisions... [preview truncated]

Article (84)
Repealed by Federal Law No. 7 of 2022.

Article (85) Abolition of Legislations
(1) Federal Law No. (1) of 2011 and amendments thereto, Federal Decree Law No. (8) of 2011 and amend... [preview truncated]

Article (86) Publication and Enforcement of the Law
This Decree Law shall be published in the Official Gazette and shall come into force as of the day f... [preview truncated]

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