A reflection on the UAE ’s new data protection law: A comparative approach with GDPR

On 2nd January, 2022, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) new Federal Decree-Law on the Protection of Personal Data came into force and became the first federal-level law to address processing of personal data. This law, which is largely influenced by major international privacy and data protection legislation, in particular the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is intended to align UAE data protection standards with global standards and principles and also follows the recent trend in legislation for privacy and data protection in the Golf Corporation Council region. This paper follows a comparative approach by highlighting the key aspects of this law through the lens of the GDPR, in attempt to provide an overview of requirements that should be taken into consideration by companies operating or wishing to settle in the UAE.