Summary
- In a significant legal shift, bouncing a cheque for insufficient funds is no longer automatically a criminal offence in the UAE as of January 2, 2022.
- The reform allows dishonoured cheques to be treated as debts, enabling holders to enforce them directly in execution courts without prior civil judgments.
- Criminal liability persists only for actions indicating bad faith, such as closing accounts to avoid payment or issuing forged cheques.
- This change streamlines enforcement but requires vigilance from both payees and drawers regarding procedural compliance and potential penalties.
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