Criminal Order is a new procedural system established by the amendment to the Federal Law No. 35 of 1992 Concerning the Criminal Procedural Law (UAE Criminal Procedure Law), which envisages an efficient and seamless transition of workflow intending to lessen the judicial workload.
The system empowers prosecutors, subject to the limits provided in the law, to find the accused guilty of specific misdemeanours and issue a decision of penalty against the convict without referring the matter to the court. The prosecutor is empowered to issue such penal orders in the absence of the accused.
Further, the law provides measures for the convict to submit his objections against such penal orders. This new system serves the interest of the accused, as the prosecutor is enabled to dispose of minor crimes without detaining his passport as security pending investigation.
Misdemeanour
Article 139 of the new law indicates the rights of the Ministry of Justice to organize the Misdemeanour Department of the Criminal Court which would decide misdemeanour cases within a day. The law provides the Ministry of Justice with the right to organize its jurisdiction, systems of hearing and other procedures. This Federal amendment established a new criminal procedure system in the name of a criminal order, which is the order issued by a prosecutor in minor cases.
Such a criminal order can be issued in absence of the accused and without investigating the committed crime. The accused shall be given the right to object to such an order within the specified period. The law empowers the Attorney General to specify the types of minor crimes which could be subject to the criminal order. Coincidently, the law excluded certain types of cases which can never be subject to the criminal order rule. One of the most important types of crimes that can never become subject to the criminal order is any crime having a mandatory deportation sentence as a consequence, or any type of honour or sexual crimes.
Prior to issuing the criminal order, the accused has to be served with a notice. However, if he does not attend a hearing, the decision shall be issued in absentia. Upon the issuance of the order, the accused will have the right to object to the penal order within 7 days from the date of the decision (if in the presence of the accused) or from the date of notifying the accused of the decision (if it was issued in absentia).
If the criminal order was issued against more than one accused in the same case, and if one of them objected to the order while others had not, the benefit of such objection will not be extended to the other accused, as long as they did not object to the order.
The new law indicates that the criminal order could be considered final if the accused accepts to pay the fine or does not object to the order within the given 7-day period.
Civil Claims in Criminal Cases
The important questions now arise in our minds: "What will be the position of a victim who filed a civil claim in the criminal proceeding?"; "What will be the impact of the criminal order for this victim?". The answer is revealed in article 341 of the amended law, which states that issuing the criminal order by the Prosecution does not restrict the victim from processing a civil case in the Civil Courts.
The law empowers the Attorney General to amend the criminal order issued by the Prosecution within 30 days following the order. For example, the Attorney General may replace the criminal order with a community service sentence providing that the expected sentence was not more than 6 months of jail or a fine.
If the Attorney General decides to replace the criminal order sentence with community service, such replacement shall be final only if it has been executed or it has not been objected to within the period for raising the appeal, which is stipulated as 7 days.
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