Key Amendments to the Rules on Cheques in the UAE

Federal Decree-Law No. 14 of 2020, in force from 2 January 2022, reshaped how cheques work in the UAE. It removed the criminal offence of issuing a cheque without sufficient funds in most cases, replaced it with targeted offences for bad-faith conduct, and made the cheque itself an enforceable instrument that the beneficiary can take straight to the execution judge.

This article, written in Arabic, walks through the changes: partial payment of a cheque, the new alternative penalties, the offences that remain, corporate liability, and what the amendments mean for creditors who relied on the cheque as a guarantee.