CMA Decision No. 21/Chairman of 2020 · UAE Federal
Applies the Common Reporting Standard to entities licensed by the Authority, requiring them to follow the Ministry of Finance’s guiding standards and Cabinet resolution on automatic exchange of information.
Decision No. 21/Chairman of 2020 makes the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) binding on everyone the Authority (now the Capital Market Authority, CMA) licenses or supervises. It does not restate the standard; it adopts by reference Cabinet Resolution No. 5/11W of 2020, which implements the multilateral competent authority agreement on automatic exchange of financial account information, and the common standards for tax reporting issued as guidance by the Ministry of Finance on 3 August 2020. It was issued in Abu Dhabi on 3 August 2020 and took effect the same day, the date those standards were implemented (Article 5).
Article 1 defines a Licensed Entity as any entity holding a licence or approval to conduct a financial activity or provide a service, and identifies the Cabinet Resolution and the Ministry of Finance's common standards. Article 2 sets the scope: licensed entities that fall within the Cabinet Resolution and the common standards, their clients who fall within them, and any other person whose dealings are subject to the Authority's supervision. Article 3 obliges each of them to apply the decision, the Cabinet Resolution and the attached common standards. The decision therefore reaches clients as well as firms: a client whose account falls within the standards is itself an addressee and must cooperate with its licensed institution's due diligence and reporting.
Article 4 cancelled the Authority's earlier Decision No. 25/Chairman of 2017 on common standards for tax reports, which this decision replaces.
The decision contains no penalty clause of its own; sanctions for failures sit in the Cabinet Resolution and the Authority's general enforcement powers. Status: in force without amendment. The CMA has since issued circulars on undocumented accounts, the content of reports and residence and citizenship-by-investment schemes, and guidance on satisfactory and unsatisfactory practices, which explain how it expects the standard to be applied.
CMA-licensed entities that maintain financial accounts within the Common Reporting Standard (brokers, fund managers, custodians and similar), their clients who are account holders or controlling persons, and any other person whose dealings are supervised by the Authority.
English official text in 5 articles. Open the full text or jump to a provision:
| Article 1 | Defines the Authority, the Cabinet Resolution (No. 5/11W of 2020 on automatic exchange of information), the Common Standards for Tax Reporting issued by the Ministry of Finance, and Licensed Entity. |
| Article 2 | Applies to licensed entities and their clients subject to the Cabinet Resolution and the common standards, and to any other person whose dealings are under the Authority's supervision. |
| Article 3 | Those within Article 2 must apply and implement the decision, the Cabinet Resolution and the common standards for tax reporting attached to the decision. |
| Article 4 | Cancels the Authority's Decision No. 25/Chairman of 2017 issuing the regulation on common standards for preparing tax reports. |
| Article 5 | In force from 3 August 2020, the date the Cabinet Resolution and the common standards for tax reporting were implemented; to be published in the Official Gazette. |
CRS reaches our clients from two directions. Where a client holds a CMA licence, such as a brokerage or fund manager we administer corporately, it is a reporting financial institution and needs CRS procedures, self-certification forms and annual reporting in place from the first account. Where a client is an investor, its broker or custodian will ask for a self-certification of the entity's tax residence and of its controlling persons. We are not licensed by the CMA; we prepare and keep current the entity's tax residence evidence, UBO and controlling-person records, classify holding companies and foundations under the CRS entity categories with their advisers, and coordinate with the licensed firm's compliance team so the declarations match the beneficial ownership register.
| Cites | Former SCA Law |
“Cites” and “Cited by” are built automatically from references in the full texts held in this library; they cover only instruments in the library.
CRS Circular on Undocumented Accounts
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CRS Circular on RBI/CBI Schemes
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CRS/FATCA Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory Practices
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