NEWS FROM THE U.A.E.
Excerpts from U.A.E. Dailies

Labour Ministry introduces fees for exemptions
 

DUBAI — 29 January 2006 : The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs issued yesterday a series of decrees with regard to rewarding the companies which recruited national PROs. Also part of the decrees is the introduction of a new fee structure for transactions in which employers seek exemption from rules.

Commenting on the decrees issued by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Dr Ali bin Abdullah Al Kaabi, Humaid bin Dimas, Assistant Under-Secretary for Labour Affairs, said that the decree to introduce new fees was to prevent administrative corruption.

Should a company need exemption from rules, it is welcome to do so against the payment of certain fees. The payment of fees ensures that the application of exemption is processed immediately at the relevant counter without the need to reach the relevant counter through junior employees.1

"The advantage of this is that employers now will not have to plead to ministry employees to forward their papers and help them get approval from senior officials, resulting in corruption," he noted.

All the new decrees will be enforced on February 11, 2006.

Rewarding

Decree No 92 allowed companies to apply to the ministry for individual work permits in replacement of cancelled workers. Transactions will be directly processed at the service counter without the need to be checked and studied by the work permit committees. However, this is only for companies that have a hundred workers and more, maintained the required emiratisation percentage, complied with the rules including regular payment of salaries in addition to regular submission of payroll documents to the ministry and did not have expired labour cards or work permits.  This decree was taken to reward companies that have appointed national PROs, noted Humaid bin Dimas.

Work permit extension

Ministerial decree No. 87 allowed employers, who wish to extend the validity of the approved work permit over the sixty days period of validity, to get the extension against the payment of Dh500 per worker. This privilege was permitted only within 60 days from the expiry date of the work permit.

The ministry offers a renewed 10 days extension period from the approval's expiry date for a maximum of 6 renewals. The Dh500 fees per worker is payable at each renewal.  A work permit application will be cancelled if the permit has expired and the application was not renewed. In this case the applicant is exempted from paying the fees.

And Dh500 should be paid as cancellation charges if the employer failed to use an approved work permit application. This fee is due if a period of six months lapsed form the approval's expiry date.

No fees will be required in case of cancelling an unused work permit and if the employer applied for cancelling it before the lapse of six months from its expiry date.

Sponsorship transfer extension

Decree No 86 introduced Dh500 fee for extending the approval of sponsorship transfer transaction after the lapse of the 60 days period of the preliminary approval. Employers can extend the approval for a maximum of three times and the duration of each extension is 10 days. The Dh 500 fee is payable for each extension. Procedures for sponsorship transfer are carried out after the payment of the specified fees.

Reissuance of labour card

Decree No 88 introduced a Dh200 fee for reissuing labour cards in two specific cases:

1-  Re-employing a worker whose labour card was cancelled and yet his sponsorship was not processed for cancellation provided his re-employment was agreed upon before the lapse of one month from the date of the labour card cancellation.

2-  Should the employer failed to collect a labour card issued by the Ministry.

KHALEEJ TIMES

Insulin inhaler to fight diabetes gets FDA approval

Dubai: 29 January 2006: Millions of diabetes patients worldwide can now breathe easy with the US Food and Drug Administration yesterday giving the green light to the sale of the first insulin inhaler.

Doctors in the UAE welcomed the approval of Exubera, saying it will be a boon to diabetic children who require daily injections for survival. Diabetes is a major concern in the UAE and children with the condition require a minimum two insulin shots every day.

Dr Dinesh Kumar Dhanwal, endocrinologist with Zulekha Hospital, told Gulf News that though the new therapy will replace only short-acting insulin, "the major apprehension of patients was daily injections."

While certain existing devices can replace the chore of daily injections, they do not achieve the blood sugar targets for patients, he said.

Made by Pfizer, the drug marks the first new way apart from injections to administer the hormone since it was identified in the 1920s, the FDA said in a statement. The new drug's safety and efficacy were studied in approximately 2,500 adult patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, the statement said.

BREATHE EASY
Therapy to hit UAE markets in two years

* Exubera will be available in the UAE where 25 per cent of the population suffer from the debilitating disease within two years, doctors said.
* Pfizer said it plans to start selling Exubera by summer. The therapy is expected to cost between Dh440 and Dh550 a month.
* Health analysts said the inhaler's annual sales worldwide could touch Dh7.35 billion by 2010.

GULF NEWS

Three-tier interchange eases woes of motorists

Dubai: 29 January 2006:Motorists in Dubai are jubilant at the opening of new interchange and access roads near Internet City on Shaikh Zayed Road.

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) yesterday opened its newest road project called the Jumeirah Palm Island Road Corridor and Access Project.

"The new three-level-interchange and access roads project will mainly serve the traffic movement between Emirates Road, Al Khail Road, Shaikh Zayed Road and Al Sufouh Road," said Engineer Maitha Bin Adai, Director, Roads Department at the RTA.

"The new interchange and access roads at this important section of the Shaikh Zayed Road was much awaited especially when the Fifth Interchange is being demolished to be replaced with a new one," said David who works at the Media City.

He said there had been traffic snarls, especially during peak hours while driving in or out of Shaikh Zayed Road near Media City and surrounding areas.

Touseef Ahmad, an IT engineer, said he saved at least 30 minutes yesterday to reach his office from Dubai by using the newly opened interchange.

"It was a such a big relief," he said.

"The Dh240 million project will considerably assist in resolving traffic congestion resulted from vast development along Shaikh Zayed Road and surrounding areas," said Maitha. The project consists of a three-level main interchange on Shaikh Zayed Road. It comprises three bridges and one underpass. The first bridge will provide free traffic movement between Al Barsha and Al Sufouh Area in both directions in addition to free access loop from Jebel Ali/Abu Dhabi side toward Al Sufouh area and Palm Jumeirah.

The second bridge will serve the traffic movement from Al Barsha toward Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi while the third bridge will provide free access from Al Sufouh Area toward Dubai. The tunnel will provide free traffic access from Dubai direction toward Al Barsha, Emaar compounds and Al Khail Road.

The project also consists of another two-level interchange at Al Sufouh Road.

GULF NEWS

Fee is not exorbitant, says official at service provider

Dubai: 29 January 2006: Paul Kane, the director of business development for IntegraScreen, said the fee for document verification was far below that charged by attestation centres previously.

"Prior to implementation of the programme, it used to cost Dh1,800 to get document verification from the US, similarly it cost Dh700 to get it from India. If it was done through an express service, the cost was even more. We looked at fees all over the world before implementing it over here.

"Do you think the ministry would have even agreed to be our partner if we were expensive," said Kane.

He said the company had a well-knit network globally and got document verification directly from the institute, college or university from where it had been issued.

"If we come across a fake certificate, the Ministry of Labour is notified. There is no point in getting verification for all educational certificates, just the highest one needs verification. Our dealings are with the Ministry of Labour. We do not deal with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health or the free zones," he said.

While many companies demand expatriates must pay for their own visa charges and tickets, labour officials have said this is not legal, and that companies must meet all visa and travel costs involved in bringing a worker to the UAE.

But some Public Relations Officers (PROs), tasked with dealing with government departments on behalf of companies, said employees traditionally paid to have their educational degrees attested.

"A company doesn't accept a worker whose educational degree turns out to be fake, so it's always been their responsibility to pay for attestation," said one PRO representing a company with 50 workers.

Another PRO representing a company with 60 workers agreed. "It's very expensive and the company shouldn't pay, because the employee has to prove their degree is real," he said.

But one PRO said the company he represented was now considering covering attestation fees.

"The company is considering paying for attestation, because Dh500 is too much, and many workers can't afford to pay it."

Another PRO said the company he represented wanted to find a compromise. "Dh500 is way too much to ask a worker to pay, but it's also not fair on companies. Transaction fee costs in the ministry have made bringing in workers very expensive. We are thinking about splitting costs."

The new attestation system has previously provoked anger. PROs have said it is an almost impossible task to fill out the form for the degree.

Adham, a PRO for a large Dubai-based company, earlier told Gulf News he had to find out potential employees' grades.

"As a PRO, I have to obtain the grades of each person for all years in university, their transfer certificate, registration number and grade card. Who still remembers their university registration number?" Other details to fill in include student identity number.

ROUTE MAP
The four-stage process

    * The certificates are to be first attested by the concerned ministry officials in the home country of the expatriates.
    * Then the certificates should be attested by the UAE missions in their respective home countries.
    * The ministry of foreign affairs in the UAE will then put its stamp.
    * After these steps the certificates are submitted to IntegraScreen for verification.

GULF NEWS

Private sector to get holiday on Thursday

Dubai: 29 January 2006: Private sector workers will get a holiday for Islamic New Year on Thursday, February 2, but it will remain on February 1 for public sector employees.

A circular issued by Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, said the ministry has decided to postpone the private sector holiday from Tuesday, January 31, which is the first day of Muharram, 1427 hijri.

The circular said the decision seeks to allow employees and employers an uninterrupted weekend holiday and is in harmony with the Cabinet's circular on holiday for public sector.

GULF NEWS

Man blames scantily-clad women for lewd act

Dubai: 29 January 2006: A salesman who claimed he was tempted by "devilish scenes" was caught on a shopping mall's security camera touching his private parts in a store.

The 24-year-old Bangladeshi was charged with gesturing obscenely in public and given a six-month jail sentence.

The Dubai Court of First Instance heard a security guard at a Dubai shopping mall noticed the man touching his private parts. He also noticed that he kept walking behind women and looking at them in a suspicious fashion.

He was taken by the guard for questioning. He initially denied the charges but confessed after he was confronted with the video tape. In his statement to the public prosecution, he claimed "devilish scenes" had enticed him.

He said that many women wore revealing clothes and they were virtually in a state of undress.

He will be deported after serving his prison term.

HISTORY
Five cases of indecent behaviour

    * A 23-year-old Filipina was jailed for wearing a revealing dress in public.
    * A worker who saw a group of men swimming together was jailed for committing a lewd act in public.
    * A drunk was fined Dh1,500 for committing an indecent act at Jumeirah Beach Park claiming he was "seduced by the devil".
    * A Saudi who was jailed for unruly behaviour and being drunk protested by stripping off at the police station.
    * Two Australians and a UAE national were jailed for indecent behaviour on a public beach.

GULF NEWS