Federal Law No. (24) of 1999 on the Protection and Development of the Environment

Potentially relevant to projects and facilities that may pollute or affect land, air, water or biodiversity in the UAE. Whether a permit is required depends on the activity and the competent authority. It is not evidence that every office must hold an environmental permit.

Entity types

• Project owners and facility operators whose activities may pollute or affect the environment
• Handlers of hazardous substances and wastes addressed by the law

Conditions

• The activity is of a kind the law and its executive regulations regulate, such as polluting projects, discharges, hazardous materials or impacts on the marine or terrestrial environment.
• Local competent authorities administer much of the permitting.
• The 2006 amendment must be read with the 1999 law. This record does not restate that amendment article by article.

• Article 2 objectives include pollution control, protection of biological diversity and natural resources, and protection of human health.
• The law addresses development projects, the water environment, air pollution, soil, hazardous substances and waste, and protected areas, with duties distributed between the federal agency named in the 1999 text and local competent authorities.
• Many numerical limits and procedures were reserved to the executive regulations.
• The English text on the Ministry site states that the law was amended by Federal Law No. 11 of 2006 dated 7 May 2006. Article-level effects of that amendment were not re-verified line by line for this record.
• A precise Official Gazette day, and therefore a calculated effective date, was not confirmed beyond the issue date of 17 October 1999 and publication in Official Gazette No. 340.

No confirmed company-specific filing or compliance date identified.

Other dated events

• 17 October 1999Issue date of Federal Law No. 24 of 1999 (effective, confirmed). Published in Official Gazette No. 340. The law text says it comes into force three months after publication. The exact gazette day was not confirmed, so no effective date is stored.
• No confirmed deadline identifiedEntry into force three months after publication in the Official Gazette. Calendar day not confirmed in this review. (effective, confirmed)

No separate reporting period was identified beyond the duties described above.

• Industrial, construction, energy and marine activities should identify permit and impact-assessment triggers with the local authority.
• Service businesses without those activities should not treat this record as a confirmed permit obligation.
• Biodiversity and water duties in this law are framework duties. Later protected-area and water instruments are tracked separately in the research queue until verified.

1. For each facility, ask whether an environmental permit, impact study or discharge consent is already in place.
2. Read the executive regulations (Cabinet Resolution No. 37 of 2001) with the law, not instead of it.
3. Use the Arabic text if a compliance position depends on a specific article.

• Article 2
• Development and the environment
• Water environment
• Hazardous substances and waste

• 7 May 2006 — Amended by Federal Law No. 11 of 2006, as noted on the Ministry English text. Article-level changes were not separately reviewed. Source

• Cabinet Resolution No. 37 of 2001Executive regulations for Federal Law No. 24 of 1999 on environmental protection. The official portal lists the resolution as active, issued…
• Federal Law No. 12 of 2018Federal framework for waste from generation through segregation, collection, storage, reuse, recycling, treatment and disposal inside the St…

• Ministry of Climate Change and Environment — English text of Federal Law No. 24 of 1999primary · Issue date 17 October 1999; amendment note for Federal Law No. 11 of 2006; Article 2

• 13 October 2026 — Initial navigator record. Issue date and 2006 amendment note taken from the Ministry English text. Effective calendar day left blank because the gazette day was not confirmed.