65. General exemptions

(1) The DIFCA Board of Directors may make Regulations exempting Controllers from compliance with this Law or any parts of this Law. Such Regulations shall be consistent with the principles contained within this Article.

(2) Without limiting the generality of Article 65(1), and having regard to the fundamental rights and legitimate interests of the Data Subject, Articles 26, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39 and 42 shall not apply to a DIFC Body, where such DIFC Body acts as a Controller, if, and only to the extent that, compliance with such Article would in any case be likely to cause material prejudice to the proper discharge by such DIFC Body of its powers and functions under any laws administered by it (including any delegated powers and functions), provided that such powers and functions:

(a) are designed for protecting members of the public against financial loss due to dishonesty, malpractice or other seriously improper conduct by, or the unfitness or incompetence of, persons concerned in the provision of banking, insurance, investment or other banking and financial activities and services, including insurance and reinsurance services, financial markets and financial and monetary brokerage services;

(b) are designed for protecting members of the public against dishonesty, malpractice or other seriously improper conduct by, or the unfitness or incompetence of, persons concerned in the provision of banking, insurance, investment or other financial services; or

(c) are designed for the detection, investigation and prosecution of criminal or unlawful behaviour.

(3) A DIFC Body shall maintain a register of any case where it relies on an Article 65(2) exemption, setting out:

(a) the Article concerned, to the extent that the exemption is a necessary and proportionate measure to carry out the powers and functions described in Article 65(2)(a) to (c); and

(b) the reasons for reliance on the exemption in such case.

(4) The Commissioner may inspect the register referred to in Article 65(3) and may at any time request additional information, raise a query or an objection to the exemption or conduct an investigation into the Applicable Law, regulation or public policy that supports the exemption to determine whether the exercise of the exemption complies with this Law.

(5) A DIFC Body that contravenes Article 65(2) by invalidity relying on an exemption shall be subject to any of the remedies, liabilities and sanctions set out in Part 9.

SCHEDULE 1

1. Rules of interpretation

(1) In this Law, unless otherwise provided, a reference to:

(a) a statutory provision includes a reference to the statutory provision as amended or re-enacted from time to time;

(b) a “person” includes any natural person, body corporate or body unincorporate, including a company, partnership, unincorporated association, government or state;

(c) an obligation to publish or cause to be published a particular document shall, unless expressly provided otherwise in this Law, include publishing or causing to be published in printed or electronic form;

(d) a “day” means a calendar day, unless expressly stated otherwise. If an obligation falls on a calendar day which is either a Saturday, Sunday or an official public holiday, the obligation shall take place on the next calendar day which is a business day;

(e) a “business day” means a calendar day, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and official public holidays;

(f) a “week” shall mean a calendar week or seven (7) days, whichever is applicable in the circumstances;

(g) a “month” shall mean a period of thirty (30) days;

(h) a “year” shall mean a period of three hundred and sixty five (365) days and a “calendar year” shall mean a year of the Gregorian calendar;

(i) a reference to the masculine gender includes the feminine and vice versa;

(j) the singular shall include the plural and vice versa;

(k) “dollar” or “$” is a reference to United States Dollars unless the contrary intention appears; and

(l) this Law includes any Regulations made under this Law;

(2) The headings in this Law shall not affect its interpretation.

(3) References in this Law to a body corporate include a company incorporated outside the DIFC.

(4) A reference in this Law to a Part, Chapter, Article or Schedule by number only, and without further identification, is a reference to the Part, Chapter, Article or Schedule of that number in this Law.

(5) A reference in an Article or other division of this Law to an Article by number or letter only, and without further identification, is a reference to the Article of that number or letter contained in the Article or other division of this Law in which that reference occurs.

(6) Unless the context otherwise requires, where this Law refers to an enactment, the reference is to that enactment as amended from time to time, and includes a reference to that enactment as extended or applied by or under another enactment, including any other provision of that enactment.

(7) References in this Law to writing, filing, instrument or certificate include any mode of communication that preserves a record of the information contained therein and is capable of being reproduced in tangible form, including electronic means.

2. Legislation in the DIFC

References to legislation and guidance in this Law shall be construed in accordance with the following provisions:

(a) Federal Law is law made by the federal government of the United Arab Emirates;

(b) Dubai Law is law made by the Ruler, as applicable in the Emirate of Dubai;

(c) DIFC Law is law made by the Ruler (including, by way of example, the Law), as applicable in the DIFC;

(d) the Law is the Data Protection Law, DIFC Law No. 5 of 2020 made by the Ruler;

(e) the Regulations are legislation made by the DIFCA Board of Directors under this Law and are binding in nature;

(f) the Enactment Notice is the enactment notice pursuant to which this Law is brought into force; and

(g) guidance is indicative and non-binding and may comprise (i) guidance made and issued by the Commissioner for the purposes of this Law; and (ii) any standard or code of practice issued by the DIFCA Board of Directors.

3. Defined terms

In the Law, unless the context indicates otherwise, the defined terms listed below shall have the corresponding meanings.

SCHEDULE 2

The following table sets out administrative fines that may be applied for the corresponding contraventions of this Law. This list is not exhaustive and may be updated from time to time.