10 laws expatriates break with impunity

Laws you violate: The UAE Intellectual Property Law and UAE Trademark Law.

Penalty: Fines could go up to Dh50,000. Those providing such services could face jail and deportation.

Recent crackdown: Earlier this year, passports of residents using illegal decoders were confiscated, and warning notices were placed at buildings in Bur Dubai and Karama. “Installing unauthorised satellite television connections is illegal and unauthorised,” says advocate Marc Massihi from Hikmat Fayad and Associates.

Law you violate: Penal Law

Penalty: “Penalties can lead to imprisonment of six months and fine of Dh5,000. People land in trouble when they carry liquor and meet with an accident or create public disturbance,” says Mohammad Hameed, Legal Consultant, Al Midfa & Associates.

3 Employing Illegal domestic help: Illegal workers include housemaids on someone else’s visa or those helping you in odd jobs without a proper visa. Around 1,200 people are on trial for recruiting maids illegally and you wouldn’t want to be part of this list.

Law you violate: UAE immigration laws.

Penalty: Fines could go up to Dh50,000.

Recent crackdown: Arab woman fined Dh50,000 for employing a housemaid who was not on her sponsorship.

Law you violate: Dubai Municipality’s orders.

Penalty: From Dh500 to Dh1,000.

Recent crackdown: Around 3,600 people fined this year for throwing waste out of cars and spitting in public.

Law you violate: Federal Traffic Law

Penalty: Dh100 for leaking air conditioner, washing vehicles on the road or flushing vehicle water on the road.

Recent crackdown: Over 400 people have been fined this year on this count.

Law you violate: UAE Penal Law.

Penalty: Jail term, fine and deportation. “Unauthorised voice calls are an infringement of the law and cheap calling cards are illegal,” said advocate Massihi.

Recent crackdown: A man was arrested last week for helping others to make cheap international phone calls from a computer at his home.

Law you violate: UAE Penal Law.

Penalty: Fine, detention or both and possibly deportation.

Law you violate: Article 356 of the UAE Penal Law.

Recent case: A British woman and her Irish partner were sentenced to three-months in jail in early November after being convicted of having sex in the back of a taxi.)

Law you violate: UAE Penal Law of 1987

Penalty: Up to six months in jail and deportation.

“Ignorance of law, one has to remember, is no excuse and most times we see people are aware of the laws, but tend to take things lightly. People should not take the law lightly — it is for their own good,” says advocate Bindu Chettur.