New Dubai law on ads to boost city’s beauty
dubai — A new law issued in Dubai on Tuesday identifies places where advertisements are strictly banned. These include residential buildings, places of worship, traffic lights and signs, trees, historic buildings and military areas.
The decree issued by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, seeks to preserve the “visual appearance and beauty of the city”. It also aims to ensure that advertisements “harmonise with the design of buildings”.
“The decree also seeks to uphold public and traffic safety and monitor advertisements to prevent misinformation and violations of public order, morals and customs,” the Dubai Media Office said.
The decree is applicable to all advertisements in the emirate, including private development zones and free zones.
“It is strictly forbidden for any entity to display advertisements in Dubai without obtaining prior permission from competent authorities. Authorities responsible for providing permission in their respective jurisdictions include Dubai Municipality, Roads and Transport Authority, Department of Economic Development, the authority managing a private development zone, the authority managing a free zone, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Dubai Maritime City Authority,” the media office said.
Guidelines to be developed
According to the decree, the Dubai Municipality, in collaboration with the other entities concerned, will develop a set of guidelines detailing all the procedures, requirements and technical specifications for obtaining advertisement permits.
All applications for advertisement permits must satisfy the requirements outlined in the guidelines. After obtaining the permit, the applicant must fully comply with the specifications in the permit, including the dimensions, timeframe, advertisement method
and all other procedures and technical specifications.
Once the authorised period for displaying the advertisement is over or the contract has expired, the advertising company must remove the ad and restore the location to its original state.
The decree also specifies the fines and penalties for violations. The violator can appeal in writing to the director-general of the government entity concerned within 30 days of the date of the fine notification.
Bylaws
The Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai will issue the bylaws required to implement the decree, which annuls any other legislation that contradicts or challenges its articles. The decree will be published in the Official Gazette and will be effective three months after the date of its publication.