As per the recent decision no. 51 issued by the Cabinet, the Ministry of Economy revoked fees on more than 100 government services and decreased the charges for others among 110 services along with the ones with regards to the intellectual property matters to develop investment environment and increase the competitiveness in business market in UAE as well.

Accordingly, the Minister of Economy, HE Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, declared that reduction in charges and the annulment of a wide range of fees would provide an essential addition to the business sector in UAE.

He also noted that "The latest move comes within a series of policies and resolutions decided by the federal and local governments to stimulate and strengthen economic growth, provide new incentives to increase the attractiveness of the local business climate, generate more job opportunities and promote the UAE as a favoured investment destination which supports economic growth and advances UAE rankings on the global competitive indexes".

Accordingly, the fees for the registration and renewal of a trademark or trademarks for goods, products and services of a single category have been reduced to Dhs 6,700 from Dhs 10,000 while the fee for registration of branches of national companies in the register for auditors has been reduced to Dhs 10,050 from Dhs 15,000 (for each branch for a period of 3 years).

Additionally, the decision has brought about one more change which is that the official fees (i) for filing an appeal against a refusal decision, (ii) for filing of certified priority document with its English translation within 3 months from the filing date and (iii) for filing of certified priority document with its English translation within 4-6 months from the filing date have been waived off.

Although the decision of the Cabinet is very recently issued, the alteration in fee structure has been entered info force immediately meaning that all the pending actions and the ones that are not carried out yet will be put into practice in compliance with the new fee structure promptly.

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