Dubai has enacted a dedicated law on antiquities and archaeological sites, signed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The law applies to all artefacts and sites already discovered or yet to be uncovered across Dubai’s land, sea, and mountain territories, including their surface and subsurface. Its scope extends to special development zones, free zones, and the Dubai International Financial Centre.
The legislation sets out three broad objectives: to preserve, document, and classify discovered artefacts with a view to conserving them; to raise public awareness of their historical, cultural, and architectural significance; and to establish regulatory controls that ensure their protection and optimal use, while creating an institutional framework for managing archaeological activity across the emirate.
Dubai’s Culture and Arts Authority has been designated as the competent body responsible for overseeing antiquities and archaeological sites under the new law.
