+97142766120 | [email protected] | Level 23, Boulevard Plaza, Tower 2, Moh’d Bin Rashid Boulevard, Dubai — PO Box 49328
The firm provides corporate and secretarial services to companies and entrepreneurs in the Emirate of Dubai.
The firm was established by Clotilde in order to assist companies and entrepreneurs with their daily administrative tasks. Based on Clotilde’s experience in the legal sector, Clotilde realized that the Dubai market needed a bespoke and tailored service for high net-worth individuals and company’s executives to assist them with the daily hassles of company management and administration. Yungo is committed to provide its clients with bespoke world-class services, accountability and professionalism.
Our expertise has been shaped by clients working in different industries: logistics, software development, real estate, fashion, oil and gas, tourism, big events management and government authorities.
Our team speaks eight different languages: Arabic, English, French, Italian, Filipino, Mandarin, Spanish, Indi and Sri-Lankan.
Yungo understands its clients’ business challenges and has at heart its customer experience. Yungo believes that its success depends on creating a safe and trustworthy environment for its stakeholders, clients, employees and the communities in which it operates. To achieve that, Yungo maintains high standards of ethics principles, professional values, and risk management while offering a business lawyer consultation.
Yungo actively sustains the financial independence of women and supports women’s aspirations and ambitions by creating the best possible work environment and providing flexible career solutions and paths.
Clotilde Iaia Polak
Partner
Spoken Languages: Italian, English, Spanish
Mr Hamouda Al Qemzi
Partner
Spoken Languages: Arabic, English
Candy Cresencia
Office Manager
Spoken Languages: English, Filipino (Tagalog)
Edmar Tan
Accountant
Spoken Languages: English, Filipino (Tagalog)
Yungo provides language translations and interpretation services to clients in various languages, including English, Italian, French, Spanish and Arabic. Yungo’s employees can also accompany clients to fairs and exhibitions, business meetings and conferences and provide translation as well as interpretation services.
Our translators and interpreters are well versed with assisting clients to business meetings and fair and have been praised for their business oriented approach.
Intellectual property is considered by many as a company’s most valuable asset. Yungo assists with identifying, protecting and maximising its clients’ most valuable asset. Yungo’s services cover all areas of Intellectual Property including copyright, trademarks, patents and designs.
The team assist with everything from the identification of viable names to registration of trademarks as well as assistance with websites and products and the applications for patents and design protection.
Yungo supports its clients across a wide range of corporate and commercial work. Yungo has built its skills and expertise by focusing on providing a bespoke cost-effective service through in-depth knowledge of its clients’ businesses and their goals. Yungo is internationally recognized in providing corporate secretarial assistance and support to clients’ businesses in the running of their day to day operations, supporting with attendance at meetings for translation purposes, representation of clients that are unable to physically attend meeting with authorities. Yungo helps clients’ navigate through the various documents and corporate agendas by providing transactional assistance in the administration, file management, copying and storage of documentation and steps to be undertaken to ensure a seamless document management experience.
Yungo assists clients with all their company incorporation needs in the U.A.E. Covering all jurisdictions within the UAE, including free zones and mainland, Yungo provides commercial support throughout the registration process, assisting small to medium enterprises, whether they are single shareholder companies or multi-national company groups.
Yungo helps with all required typing, copying and translation services to assist its clients with the incorporation of their company by assessing their commercial preferences and trading activities. Yungo has extensive knowledge of global incorporation services and its team can assist clients with all of their incorporation requirements everywhere in the world.
Yungo is able to assist in various trading zones and jurisdictions, including: Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, Dubai Airport Free Zone, Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and many more. Furthermore, Yungo’s team can seamlessly assist with any typing, copying and translation requirements related to transfer of ownership of assets between entities.
Yungo is able to incorporate companies in various trading zones and jurisdictions, including: Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, Dubai Airport Free Zone, Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and many more. Furthermore, Yungo’s advisers can seamlessly assist with the transfer of ownersip of assets between entities as well as jurisdictions.
Yungo has close relationships with law firms in various jurisdictions, including: Panama, Mauritius, Cyprus, Italy, Guernsey, Principality of Monaco, United Kingdom, Seychelles, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Luxemburg for all its clients’ onshore as well as offshore requirements.
Yungo advises international businesses that require an offshore location to conduct their business as well as a strong regulatory framework of international standards.
Yungo provides administrative support to clients looking to enter the elaborate real estate sector and prides itself on its ability to provide invaluable assistance to its clients.
This is evidenced in its continued success and the resulting positive feedback it regularly receives from both individuals and real estate development companies.
Our services extend to providing a bridge between the real estate investor and the concerned authorities. Yungo assists clients in the typing of all documents necessary for sale and purchases of real estate properties, advises clients with the required costs and fees for transfers of title, donations of real estate properties, purchases of off-plan projects, assist with the procedures in place at the trustee offices and other government entities, so that while our employees wait in line you can run your business.
“At Yungo, we support your ambition for success, growth and expansion by providing you with the services and the know-how you need. Our clients are forward-looking businesses and international corporations and know what they want. They are not interested in one-size-fit-all formulas. They want solutions that work, for them. They want people on their side who know how to move it and make it happen. We are that people”.
-Clotilde Iaia Polak
Clotilde has been practicing law in Dubai since 2004. Before setting up Yungo, she worked as a Consultant at Taylor Wessing and prior to that she was a Partner at Eversheds KSLG in Dubai.
Hadi is based in the Ras Al Khaimah’s office and is an Associate in the Commercial and Corporate Law Department.
Siv-Huor is a French Avocat and is admitted to the Paris Bar since 2006. She started her career in an IP boutique law firm where she mainly dealt with patent litigation (Duclos Thorne Mollet-Viéville).
Filomena is based in Italy and is one of the founding partners of Yungo, specialising in Civil, Employment and Administrative Law.
Domenica is an Associate lawyer at Yungo. Domenica obtained her degree in law from the University of Perugia, Italy.
“A healthy body is the source of human happiness”. It’s difficult to find an alternative to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai’s definition of a source of happiness.
As we have come to expect from the UAE Royal Family, these statements are always supported with action. Sports in the UAE is growing at an unprecedented rate. At the last count the total expenditure in the sports market in Dubai alone is estimated at being $1.7billion. With UAE Vision 2021 on the horizon, investment is only increasing and this can be physically seen whether it be on the streets with the popularity of innovative events such as the Dubai Fitness Challenge or in the desert with the ever-more popular ultra-running events such as the BIG Stinker in Ras Al Khaimah.
Sport’s Law Advice: our Sports Lawyers Managerial Approach
The future looks bright but what is a familiar story, technology and social media is changing the face of the sports sector and the law is always playing catch-up. That is why it is important to have the right advice and legal documentation in place to protect your legal rights and ensure any contractual relationship runs smoothly giving you and/or your organisation peace of mind moving forward. At Yungo, we hire the best professionals in the field of sports law advice.
A few of the challenges we are facing are listed below:
The real estate practice is one of Yungo’s core legal specialties. Yungo has acquired an unrivalled experience in the field of real estate thanks to its geographical reach in the Italian, British and U.A.E. markets, with established contacts in government bodies allowing for a faster and streamlined service. The capability of Yungo’s lawyers to handle every aspect of commercial real estate, residential, industrial, leasing transactions and agribusiness projects stems from their extensive industry experience and creative solutions in offering practical advice and efficiency to clients’ needs.
As the international Property and real estate market continues to evolve, Yungo engages a multi-disciplinary approach to its clients’ needs. Against potentially unstable and uncertain market conditions, clients achieve their cross border real estate initiatives with Yungo’s market-leading practice with clear and technical advice across the real estate sector.
Yungo provides comprehensive support and Real Estate Law Resources to clients looking to enter this sector and prides itself on its ability to provide invaluable assistance to its clients in both the investment and management arenas of the real estate market. This is evidenced in its continued success and the resulting positive feedback it regularly receives from both individuals and development companies, many of whom have been clients for over 10 years.
Yungo’s practice includes the provision of strategic advice to corporate and private clients in the real estate and construction sectors with unparalleled industry knowledge and commercially focused assistance for the most challenging transactions, as well as inbound and outbound investments. Yungo provides assistance at various levels of development and planning of construction projects, real estate development structures and joint ventures, and the tailoring of financial solutions for construction projects.
Yungo’s breadth of expertise includes consulting on sale and purchase of land, conveyancing, property due diligence and management of commercial and residential properties, landlord and tenant disputes and lease renewals.
Yungo provides an efficient real estate team, selected by a partner to arrange compatibility with the skillset of the team and the particular transaction that the client requires. This approach ensures the client is provided with seamless technical legal advice and commercially sound solutions.
Yungo’s lawyers offer the following services:
Our team of lawyers is able to provide both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property law advice.
The protection of creations and innovations is at the core of our practice and we thrive to provide our clients with constant updates, best practices, and sound legal and business advice in the exploitation of their intellectual property rights.
Today’s economy runs on new inventions. It is, therefore, paramount that those ideas shall be protected and, as a consequence, intellectual property law has taken central stage in today’s economic world. Intellectual property laws aim to prevent one person or an organization to steal someone else’s ideas and profit from them.
The 4th Industrial Revolution has brought our society to a speed of growth that not always allows for the law to be up to date with technology advancements. It is up to business owners and organizations to be up to date with new technologies and new potential risks for their most important asset: their unique ideas.
Our team of lawyers constantly monitors technology innovations and avail of special training that allows them to be up to speed with new technologies and the new challenges and risks that these carry with them.
Artificial Intelligence, block-chain, crypto currencies, the use of block-chain in the protection of ideas, online payments, digital wallets, the internet of things, online content providers and influencers and how to regulate their work while at the same time protecting freedom of speech and privacy are some of the new challenges created by recent progresses in technology.
UAE Practice
Our TMT team covers all sectors in the intellectual property protection spectrum, here included trademark registration, copyright, design model and the protection of trade secrets, regulatory advice.
Continental Europe Practice
We provide intellectual property law advice in Continental Europe from our offices in Italy and France and may assist on a broad range of intellectual property theft matters, such as:
Our Labour Law practice is historically extremely strong both in continental Europe and in the United Arab Emirates.
UAE Practice
Employment in the UAE is regulated by a comprehensive federal law system regulating all aspects of labour relations between employers and employees.
Labour laws were put in place to protect the rights of the employer and to protect the employee from exploitation.
According to a recent report from Insead Business School, Google and the Centre for Economic Growth, the UAE is attracting a highly mobilised workforce from around the globe, with over 200 nationalities living and working in the emirates, it has become a melting pot for leading talents and innovators.
The first labour law was introduced in the United Arab Emirates in 1980 and was amended by Federal Law No. 24 of 1981, Federal Law system No. 15 of 1985, Federal Law No. 12 of 1986 and No 8 of 2007 (Labour Law) which is applicable throughout the UAE.
Continental Europe Practice
Employment laws in continental Europe may vary substantially from country to country. The legal framework can be quite complex, making it difficult for enterprisers and corporations to navigate without the right guidance.
Immigration laws are strict and the system can be considered conservative and to an extent, protectionist. The correct advice in building watertight internal rules and regulations should not be considered a luxury but a necessity.
Our team of Employment Lawyers has been involved in a wide range of labour and employment matters and disputes and provides legal advice on any aspect of employment law, which includes: employer-employee relationships, compensation, unfair dismissal matters, drafting of employment agreements, dismissal of employees, calculation of end of service gratuity labour disputes and alternative dispute resolutions
Yungo aims to provide employers with solutions in complex legal and regulatory systems, with a deep understanding of the commercial impact that employees’ matters may have on their business model.
Yungo has acquired a reputation for providing practical and sound solutions to employers’ concerns.
Our Employment Law Attorney areas of work include:
According to the Director of the United States’ FBI: “there are only two type of companies: those who have been hacked and those who will be hacked”. Businesses shall face the fact that someone will try to hack and steal their information and they should plan ahead in order to mitigate the risks involved in such violations of privacy. The legislation landscape in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East is going through tremendous changes that will impact profoundly the way businesses will handle Privacy and Data Protection Policy, data and privacy (GDPR). For the first time in history the fines that those companies will face are significant and require undivided attentions to the new challenges that will be introduced by new directives and new regulations that each of those individual countries will implement.
Between this new set of legislations and regulations, the most recent one is the GDPR the General Data Protection Regulation, a European legislation protecting data of citizens of the European Union internationally, which will come into force on May 25, 2018. The GDPR creates a set of minimum standards required to be implemented for the protection of digital personal data relating to online or reality for EU internet users. The fines for not complying with the legislation are up to 20M Euro or 4% of the annual turnover, whatever is higher.
Our team provides the following Cybersecurity Consulting services:
Despite the obvious important role of oil and gas for the UAE, the country has made groundbreaking commitments to make more use of alternative energy. The UAE is taking steps to reduce carbon emissions through major initiatives in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The UAE’s focus on renewable energy comes at a time of ever increasing demand for energy as its population grows, as oil prices have dropped to half of their value from just a few years ago, and amid increasing global and political pressure to reduce carbon emissions. That drive to diversification is only partly due to falling oil prices. Moreover, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, growing global demand, security of supply and ageing energy assets mean that governments and energy companies globally are faced with some of the most complex and challenging decisions that will have an impact not only on economic prosperity, but also on the long-term health of the environment.
In Dubai, the ambitious target of the clean energy strategy aims to increase the share of clean energy to reach 75 per cent of total energy production by 2030. As we have seen with other projects, the UAE government is not afraid of ambitious and ground-breaking projects and more often than not achieves its goals.
By working with Yungo, clients will work with lawyers who understand the energy industry—who see the opportunities within traditional sectors and within new technologies—and who can help mold the business you want. Upstream or downstream, from exploration to marketing, and from generation to retail, Yungo, can give you the innovative advice and insight you need “glocally”.
Yungo’s lawyers provide a diverse range of experience in advising on and working with the laws and regulations of the United Arab Emirates and the various free zones. Clients range from large multinational corporations to small and medium businesses and investors.
Yungo offers advice on the following:
The United Arab Emirates has invested heavily in Space Science and Technology with the launch of several satellites in orbit around the world and is planning to send an unmanned spacecraft to Mars by 2021. In line with the United Arab Emirates Mars 2117 Strategy, the country is planning to build the first human settlement on Mars.
The UAE Space Agency is planning to establish the first space research center in the Middle East with an initial investment of AED 100 million.
The United Arab Emirates is also at the forefront of innovation in the Information and Communication Technology offering to its citizens and residents the required tools to succeed in business. With nine free zones dedicated to the media and information technology sector, the United Arab Emirates is the perfect platform to start up your business in the sector or expand your horizons.
The United Arab Emirates Government has also invested in life science technology, with a particular focus on 3D printing and some spectacular progresses in medical science are to be expected in this sector.
Other interesting technology sectors where we will see major changes and challenges in the coming years will be related to artificial intelligence, the internet of things and SMART technology, “blockchains”, crypto-currencies and their regulation, online payment methods and digital wallet, data protection, the regulation of content providers and influencers in advertising as well as in journalism.
Our clients span from start-ups to well established local and global players. Our team of experts has worked with well-known brands in the sector, including electronic games producers, software makers and developers, suppliers of data analytics, television and broadcasters, advertising agencies, social media advertising agency, social media analytics suppliers, AI start-ups, production companies, content producers, influencers and life science technology conglomerates.
Services offered include:
The retail and consumer products sector is one of the most fast-moving, and therefore challenging. Retailers must keep up with an ever-changing marketplace, both in terms of their customers’ tastes and the way in which they sell their products.
The retail world is constantly changing. Consumers are forever demanding more options and greater flexibility and retailers must adapt in order to compete.
The value of the UAE’s retail market was estimated at $56.6 billion at the end of 2016, and the UAE’s retail sales turnover is expected to exceed $71 billion by 2021.
UAE has just under two million square meters of space currently under construction, and the retail sector remains buoyant with approximately one million squares of a gross leasable area set to be handed over between 2018 and 2019.
Dubai will see an additional 717,000sqm of retail space, followed by Abu Dhabi which is set to increase retail spaces by 467,000sqm this year by the end of 2018.
Demand within the UAE’s retail sector remained steady in 2017, supported by a 5.8 percent year-on- year increase in footfall within shopping malls. This trend was supported by a rise in the number of tourists, the absence of sales tax, in addition to the expansion of sales events, promotions and shopping festivals.
The largest shopping malls in the UAE witnessed a steady increase in the number of visitors, which can also be attributed to the expansion of retail space, entertainment, food and beverage offerings.
The United Arab Emirates retail market is strongly supported by the hospitality sector. The delivery of a number of theme park complexes along with other cultural initiatives and other demand generators is expected to drive demand for the hospitality market, which will certainly have effects on the retail market. This is maintained by on-going investment in the supporting infrastructure namely Dubai International Airport (currently the largest in the world in terms of passenger traffic) and Al Maktoum International Airport (which will become the world’s largest airport with a capacity of more than 160 million passengers).
Our retail experts provide industrially stable consultancy over the full scope of lawful issues influencing those participating in the retail market.
We regularly exchange retail knowledge and issues with our clients and participate both as experts and as attendees to dedicated retail events as to ensure we are up-to- date with matters of importance concerning retailers. This has allowed us to give the best and most tailored advice.
We bring our judgment, experience, and know-how so that our clients can easily take their business decisions.
We offer a core team of lawyers who are specialist in retail and provide high-level, project-based strategic legal advice and we focus on adding value to your business wherever we can.
Our advice covers the full range of national and international retail and consumer legal issues including:
New supply, attractive payment plans and the recent price and value correction have opened better deals for both homebuyers and investors in Dubai’s real estate market. Analysts say a majority of house-hunters are end users and are thus very keen on pricing. There is also a trend for those living in Dubai to move from renting and paying their landlord’s mortgages to buying their own property and paying off their own. This also means that most are finance buyers. Off-plan schemes are accordingly the most preferred product, given their competitive price.
Yungo provides comprehensive support to clients looking to enter the elaborate real estate sector and prides itself on its ability to provide invaluable assistance in both the investment and management arenas of the real estate market. This is evidenced in its continued success and the resulting positive feedback it regularly receives from both individuals and real estate development companies, many of whom have been clients for over 10 years.
At Yungo, we have vast local knowledge and continued awareness of the changing legal regimes and business environment in the Middle East. We also have a deep understanding of the unique opportunities and challenges that the region presents to developers and investors.
We regularly advise on cross-border transactions, and our involvement is carefully managed to ensure there is continuity of client care as well as local expertise at every stage of the transaction. Our clients include developers (including master developers and sub-developers), investors, funders, as well as high-net- worth individuals.
We are highly experienced in all aspects of real estate transactions in both the public and private sectors. We have the necessary connections at the Dubai Land Department and other relevant government authorities to be able to resolve any issue and ensure we achieve our client’s goals in the most efficient way possible.
Yungo’s real estate lawyers offer the following services:
The mining industry in the Arab world is on the precipice of unprecedented development. As governments aim to diversify their economies, new mining codes and regulations have opened up a wave of private sector opportunities across several exciting countries.
For the last 30 years, oil and global finance have been the driving factors of UAE’s economy with its per capita GDP on par with leading West European countries. The GDP of the country was $407.6 billion (estimated) in 2017.
UAE has an open economy policy. In 2016, the top exports of the United Arab Emirates were Gold ($15.8B), Diamonds ($12.3B), and Raw Aluminium (4.22B). Its top imports are Gold ($31.9B) and Diamonds ($12.5B), with India being the UAE’s top trading partner, followed by Iran and Switzerland (source OEC).
Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), a subsidiary of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), is a leading gold and other commodities trade centre in the world. In 2016, DGCX traded19.7M contracts worth $440B, an increase of 36 percent on 2015 (according to the DMCC 2017 Annual Report).
Realizing its mineral fuel potential, the government of UAE has increased spending in the sector for creating more jobs, expansion of infrastructure and opening up utilities to more involvement from the private sector.
Recently, Australia has struck a nuclear cooperation agreement with UAE to supply uranium for aiding the operations of four nuclear power plants that are expected to be functional by 2020.
Many minerals are currently mined in the United Arab Emirates, such as gypsum, copper, precious stones and metals, including salt and marble.
Minerals of the UAE have become a significant revenue item for the state treasury and, according to recent economic results, the trade of mining products continue to show positive annual dynamics.
Our mining group is locally recognized as a leading legal practice in the sector, providing tailored advice to prominent players throughout the mining industry in the United Arab Emirates and Africa. Yungo is able to offer a wealth of experience in mining transactions in every major mining region of the world.
Our aim is to find commercial solutions for investors in complex legal and regulatory regimes.
We provide advice on any aspect of mining and covers every aspect of the industry and every stage of the project lifecycle.
Our areas of work include:
According to data from the UAE Ministry of Economy, manufacturing contributed 14 per cent to the country’s GDP in 2014 and accounted for 53 per cent of the country’s non-oil exports. The UAE plans to attract $75 billion by 2025 into the country’s new industrial manufacturing sector. In his inaugural address at the world’s first Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit, Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri also said the manufacturing sector will contribute as much as 25 per cent towards the country’s GDP by 2025. This expansion will be backed by government efforts to implement an industrialisation strategy.
At Yungo we advise clients on their day-to- day operational issues as well as assisting with restructuring and sophisticated transactions that are critical to their success. We have a wealth of experience and a track-record of successfully achieving our clients’ goals, reflecting our creativity and innovation as well as our commitment to finding the right and most efficient solution for our clients, no matter what the circumstances. We understand that, in order to provide effective representation to a manufacturing client, it is imperative to fully understand its business, including its supply chain, products, markets, contracts, and trade channels. It is equally important that we develop relationships of trust with the client’s management team, so that we can be a true value-added partner that helps each client to meet the business and legal challenges of the very competitive environment in which it operates.
Our technical legal knowledge supports our desire to always understand the business from our clients’ point of view. This exceptional commercial awareness constantly shapes our legal perspective. We bring a depth of experience not often found in firms of our size, as well as a practical, cost-effective, and team-oriented approach to solving problems.
Services provided include the following:
The World Bank has positioned the United Arab Emirates as the best performing tradelogistics service provider in the Gulf region and is a world-class global logistics hub. The logistics industry is expected to grow 4.8% between 2017 and 2021.
The United Arab Emirates two leading airports (Dubai and Abu Dhabi International Airports) have been investing in improving and expanding their facilities consistently in the past years and it is expected that they will continue to invest to sustain the expected freight growth.
Dubai has also recently opened a third cargo and passenger airport, the Al Maktoum international Airport (Dubai World Central) at Dubai South with new exciting business opportunities for logistic companies. When completed the airport will become the world’s largest airport with a capacity of more than 160 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo per annum. The airport forms the heart of a greater project, a 140 square kilometer multiphase development of six clustered zones that includes the Dubai Logistics City (DLC), Commercial City, Residential City, Aviation City and the Golf City.
Jebel Ali Port, managed by DP World, is investing $1.6 billion to increase the port’s total capacity to 22.1 million containers. Similarly, Abu Dhabi Ports Company plans to expand Khalifa Port by 100 square kilometres by mid-2018 to accommodate more industries and keep up with growth in the sector.
Our cooperation with global logistics clients has shaped our team of legal experts whom has developed the industry knowledge required to provide seamless assistance and support to their operations in the Middle East. The ever changing regulatory framework and the fast advances in technology are the main challenges that clients in logistics and transports face in current times.
Our team of experts is always at the forefront of such innovation and constantly keeps up to date with latest advancement in technology and regulations.
We provide bespoke assistance on the ground and deal with administrative, technical, regulatory and immigration needs so that our clients can focus on the business.
Services offered include:
According to the latest Middle East and Africa Hotel Construction report issued by Top Hotel Projects, the hospitality and leisure industry in the United Arab Emirates is thriving. It is foreseen that there will be 83 new hotels opening their doors in 2018. The United Arab Emirates has more than 200 hotels project in the pipeline, of which 164 in Dubai, 25 in Abu Dhabi and 12 in Ras Al Khaimah. According to Statista the forecasts for the growth of the hospitality industry in the United Arab Emirates predicts a growth of 5.3 percent.
Changes in visa policies have facilitated the access to the United Arab Emirates of more tourists from countries such as Russia and China. In particular, according to Collier’s UAE Hospitality Market Report, Russia inbound visitation shows a 100% year on year growth in the Emirate of Dubai and, although, the increase offer might affect daily average rates, new attractions such as the Dubai Safari and the Dubai Frame should be able to support the expected inbound growth.
With regards to the Northern Emirates, the efforts of the public authorities and the investments in the hotel sectors are starting to produce the expected results with increasing visitation rates matching the Emirates individual targets. Ras Al Khaimah is focusing on its natural assets along with events and conferences, while Sharjah is focusing on culture, nature and its cultural heritage. The hospitality industry is growing substantially in these markets as well and is attracting more and more inbound visits from outside the United Arab Emirates with a propensity for tourists to stay longer compared to domestic visitors.
In all the Emirates, with the exception of Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates remains strong in the luxury sector with the majority of hotels being 5 and 4 stars. Major brands are entering the market at various levels and in all the Emirates, with Ras Al Khaimah being at the forefront of the push with 6,400 keys expected to entering the market (doubling the current offer).
With more than 15 year experience in the hospitality and leisure market, Yungo’s team of lawyers has developed in depth knowledge of every Emirate and has worked with major players and brands in the sector of leisure and hospitality actively participating in building and shaping the future of the industry.
Our clients include brand owners, franchisors and developers; global, regional and national hotels; serviced apartments; and leisure and sports operators (theme and amusement parks, health and fitness facilities, spas, gyms, leisure complexes, cinemas, nightclubs).
We also represent organizers and developers of venues for major sporting and educational events, including the Winter Olympic Games and the Olympic Games.
Our services include the following:
The UAE Federal Government Contracts Regulation sets out the requirements for contracts to be executed with the UAE federal government. The Ministry of Finance uses an advanced procurement system for all federal entities through which it announces purchases related to Ministry of Finance or other ministries and federal entities. Through this system, it also invites tenders and announces the winners of contracts. In addition, it has a tenders and auctions system that ensures the success of purchases and helps in reducing financial and administrative costs by qualifying suppliers to participate in tenders, auctions and bids.
Each Emirate may also have to abide to local procurement rules. For instance the Law of Contracts of Government Departments in Dubai regulate the contracts with the Dubai government and the Law of Purchases governs contracts with the Abu Dhabi Government. Similar local procurement laws are applicable in other Emirates as well, namely Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Sharjah, Fujairah and Ajman.
In some cases it will be difficult to determine the nature of an entity as governmental or private and, in some instances, certain entities will be subject to specific rules, such as the application of a the governing law of the relevant government entity or the exclusivity of the jurisdiction of a specific Court.
Any businesses looking to contract with government entities in the UAE, or elsewhere in the region, would be well-advised to make sure that their contracts have been considered with local government procurement rules in mind.
Our team regularly advises on local government procurement contracts and can advise in all sectors of government contracting.
Clotilde Iaia Polak and her team are well qualified to provide assistance in government procurement tendering and contract drafting and negotiation.
Our services include the following:
Despite the obvious important role of oil and gas for the UAE, the country has made groundbreaking commitments to make more use of alternative energy. The UAE is taking steps to reduce carbon emissions through major initiatives in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The UAE’s focus on renewable energy comes at a time of ever increasing demand for energy as its population grows, as oil prices have dropped to half of their value from just a few years ago, and amid increasing global and political pressure to reduce carbon emissions. That drive to diversification is only partly due to falling oil prices. Moreover, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, growing global demand, security of supply and ageing energy assets mean that governments and energy companies globally are faced with some of the most complex and challenging decisions that will have an impact not only on economic prosperity, but also on the long-term health of the environment.
In Dubai, the ambitious target of the clean energy strategy aims to increase the share of clean energy to reach 75 per cent of total energy production by 2030. As we have seen with other projects, the UAE government is not afraid of ambitious and ground-breaking projects and more often than not achieves its goals.
By working with Yungo, clients will work with lawyers who understand the energy industry—who see the opportunities within traditional sectors and within new technologies—and who can help mold the business you want. Upstream or downstream, from exploration to marketing, and from generation to retail, Yungo, can give you the innovative advice and insight you need “glocally”.
Yungo’s lawyers provide a diverse range of experience in advising on and working with the laws and regulations of the United Arab Emirates and the various free zones. Clients range from large multinational corporations to small and medium businesses and investors.
Yungo offers advice on the following:
Corporate laws and regulations in the UAE are administered at a Federal level, state level, as well as at each Free Zone level.
There are also different regulations and circulars issued by the various ministries and authorities in each Emirate which must be implemented by any company incorporated here in the UAE. Yungo and its team of commercial and corporate lawyers in UAE have a vast experience of incorporating, restructuring and managing companies both onshore as well as in free zones.
It is important to remain abreast of any new circular or regulation as it is not always clear nor can there be much fore-warning before being published. They can therefore have a substantial adverse impact on any business if (a) the company has no notice of them and/or (b) the company does not comply for whatever reason and/or follows the wrong procedure for compliance.
Our corporate and commercial lawyers in the United Arab Emirates, with their international backgrounds are best positioned to provide clients with commercially focused advice on all types of commercial relationships, whether it be for joint ventures, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, franchising or supply and distribution agreements. Understanding the industry and the day-to-day issues faced by our clients is critical to the success of our corporate commercial legal advisors.
The legal system in the UAE can seem daunting at times, however, compared to many jurisdictions, corporate commercial law is far less cumbersome. Yungo, as a commercial corporate law consultant, takes note of every change constantly. This is because the government is constantly moving to improve the legal infrastructure in an effort to encourage foreign companies to establish and invest in the economy. Most importantly, because the legal system is comparatively young, the law makers are able to move nimbly and quickly in updating laws allowing the system to run in harmony with economic market movements.
Yungo offers advice on the following:
Should you need any commercial or corporate legal advice, get in touch with our corporate and commercial legal consultants today.
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Spoken Languages: Arabic and English
Hadi is based in the Ras Al Khaimah’s office and is an Associate in the Commercial and Corporate Law Department.
Spoken Languages: Italian, English, Spanish
Clotilde has been practicing law in Dubai since 2004. Before setting up Yungo, she worked as a Consultant at Taylor Wessing and prior to that she was a Partner at Eversheds KSLG in Dubai.
Spoken Languages: Italian and English
Filomena is based in Italy and is one of the founding partners of Yungo, specialising in Civil, Employment and Administrative Law.
Spoken Languages: French, English, German and Chinese dialect (Hainan)
Siv-Huor is a French Avocat and is admitted to the Paris Bar since 2006. She started her career in an IP boutique law firm where she mainly dealt with patent litigation (Duclos Thorne Mollet-Viéville).
Spoken Languages: Italian and English
Domenica was admitted to the Italian Bar in 2014 and has been working with Yungo since 2003.
