UAE legal Q&As: Visitors to your home must also have a liquor licence

Begging is prohibited in the UAE, but is there a punishment for giving money to beggars?

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Q: If my friends are visiting from abroad, do they need a liquor licence to be able to consume alcohol in my apartment? What are the consequences if they do not carry such a licence?

A: It is necessary to obtain a liquor licence in accordance with the Law on Alcoholic Beverage Control issued in 1972, which stipulates in Article 3 that “no person is allowed to import or export or manufacture or obtain alcoholic beverages or consume them or offer them to third parties, except for cases provided for in this law and accordingly with conditions set forth therein”. Your friends must obtain a liquor licence to consume alcohol in your apartment. If they are staying in a hotel, they can consume alcoholic beverages without one as the hotel has already obtained such licence. Should alcohol be consumed in cases other than those permitted, the penalty is imprisonment for a maxiumum of six months and/or a fine of no more than Dh5,000. The court can order that alcoholic beverages be confiscated along with all tools used to commit such crime.

Q: If I say something indecent at work and a female colleague accidentally overhears me, can she report me to the police? And if she does report me, what will I be charged with?

A: Public decency must prevail in public settings, particularly in the workplace, where employees must adhere to rules and regulations, so indecent public conduct and swearing is not acceptable. An indecent act includes actions and words. A scandalous act is one that breaches decency before the eyes and ears of the victim. It is not based on sexual freedom but rather on the breach of decency and therefore includes actions and words. Article 358 of the penal code states that “whoever openly commits an indecent and disgraceful act aimed at a woman shall be punished by detention for a period of at least six months”, and Article 359 says that “whoever disgraces a woman by words or by deeds in public shall be punished with detention for a period not exceeding one year and with a fine not exceeding Dh10,000”.

Q: I am aware that begging is prohibited in the UAE but will I be punished by law if I give money to beggars?

A: Begging is indeed prohibited in the UAE, but it is the beggars who are punished by law because they are in breach, while the people giving to them are seen as the victims.

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