Before the new changes that were effected by the Federal Decree By Law No. 15 of 2020, it was illegal to consume alcohol without a valid permit. The permits were issued by the respective authorities in each emirate and were subject to the provisions of the law on alcoholic beverage control issued in 1972. Thus, pursuant to the said law it was illegal to import, export, manufacture, acquire, drink, supply, sell or offer alcoholic drinks to any person who does not possess a valid alcohol license, issued by the appropriate licensing authority on an emirate level. Violation of the said rules would have invited a penalty equivalent to six months imprisonment and a fine or five thousand dirhams.

New changes:

With the recent changes effected in the federal laws, the consumption of alcohol has been legalized in the UAE, subject to the restrictions imposed by each emirate.

For the emirate of Dubai, the following rules apply:

Consumption of alcohol by Minors:

In terms of alcohol consumption, a minor would be any person who is below the age of twenty-one (21) and further, it is a punishable offence for any person to sell alcoholic beverage to a minor (‘minor’ as within the purview of this law).

Article 313 (bis) of the Law No. 15 of 2020 reads as follows:

No penalty shall be imposed on drinking, possessing or trading in alcoholic drinks in the cases and at places authorized in accordance with the legislation in force.

It is critical to understand that the new changes in the right context, especially, that each emirate has its own rules and if there is a local law of a given emirate that prohibits the consumption of alcohol then, the said local laws would apply instead of the Federal laws in such instances. For instance, the emirate of Sharjah, has local laws in place that have been in effect for decades which specifically criminalizes the consumption of alcohol in the said emirate and have not been revoked yet.