New website lays down Oman law

Muscat: Oman is gradually opening up its doors to foreign investment, especially in the tourism sector, thus there is an increasing need for foreign investors, as well as foreigners arriving here to work, to understand the local laws.

A young enterprising law graduate has taken it upon herself to make legal services regarding Omani laws available globally. Rozalin Al Balushi recently launched a legal web portal that offers services not only to residents here but to "everyone, everywhere."

"We [Oman] are now open for 100 per cent foreign investment in the country but interested parties would like to know the intricacies of our local laws before they venture here, so now they can access our website (www.omanlegalzone.com) and know everything and anything Omani laws," Al Balushi told Gulf News.

Al Balushi got her law degree at Sultan Qaboos University five years ago and then she gained experience by working with the legal department at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). "Telecommunications and information technology are the two fields that are new but rapidly progressing in the country, so I found it right to gain expertise in these fields," she said.

Rent laws

Oman has in the recent past opened up its telecoms sector, inviting new service players to compete with the government-owned Oman Telecommunications.

"This is one area where a lot of legal assistance will be required for operators intending to enter this market," she said.

She also feels that with the recent hike in rents and subsequent rent laws introduced by the government a lot of tenants will need to seek legal advice.

"Our portal is well equipped to deal with such cases."

The soft-spoken young lawyer said that they can also help people hire lawyers through their website.

"We will offer options of lawyers to our clients and even after hiring a particular lawyer if the client is unhappy we will help him/her change the lawyer," she said.

She pointed out that it was not her single-handed effort but young like-minded Omanis such as Tarfah Al Sulaimany, Mahmoud Al Tobi, Mahmoud Al Sharji, Kamal Ali, Tahir Al Ebrahim, Saleem Al Shabibi, Faisal Al Shukaili and Fatma Tahir Adnan who had helped her set up the site.

"It is teamwork and will remain so," she said over a cup of coffee as she displayed various sections of her website on her laptop.

"Our country is earnestly going for e-governance and we young Omanis have a major role to play in making this government endeavour successful."

She said that the website was affordable for most clients seeking legal help in Oman.

"Our team has legal experts, lawyers and legal advisers but since we don't have an office our overheads are low and that allows us to keep our charges down," she said.

Her and her team's aim is to make this a truly global legal website and also to liaise with similar websites in other countries.

"We can provide a platform here in Oman for all those seeking legal help here," she said, adding they were planning to start a translation department.

"All Omani laws are mostly in Arabic so through our website we will provide authentic translation in English to make it easy for the international community," she added.

"The next five years will see Oman buzzing with e-governance and e-business and we intend to be at the forefront of that progress."

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