Publishing a Legal Notice in a Newspaper in Dubai

It is the published announcement by which a party is formally notified of judicial proceedings once a court has authorised service by publication. It is printed in a newspaper — Arabic by default, or a foreign-language newspaper where the party to be served is a foreigner — and the printed notice is kept as proof on the case file.

Arabic by default. The Civil Procedure Law additionally allows publication in a foreign-language newspaper where the party to be served is a foreigner or non-UAE national, so that a foreign party can realistically receive notice. It is not the case that every notice must appear in two languages or two newspapers.

No. Service by publication is a court-authorised fallback, used only when ordinary and electronic service cannot be effected. The court — through the Case Management Office, the competent judge or the chief justice — authorises it. A party cannot simply publish a notice and treat the case as served; a missing address alone is not enough.

No. Under Dubai Resolution No. 9 of 2024, posting a notice on the Dubai Courts electronic noticeboard has no legal effect of its own (Article 4), and it is limited to cases already served by posting or newspaper publication as prescribed by the Law (Article 3). The court-ordered newspaper publication is the operative service; the online posting is only a supplementary, informational mirror.

The printed notice — the published page or clipping showing the wording and the date — is kept and placed on the case file as evidence that publication was carried out. We describe this in substance and do not state a specific article number or a fixed deemed-service timeline for domestic publication, because the exact wording of that core provision was not available from the official portals; the rule is attributed to Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022.

That is a distinct route from newspaper publication. Where a party is outside the UAE and cannot be reached by the other means, notification is sent through the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and on to the relevant diplomatic mission, and is treated as served 21 working days after the mission receives it (Articles 10–11, with Article 11(2) for the timeline, of Federal Decree-Law 42/2022), unless a special convention applies.

Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022 on the Civil Procedure Law, in force since 2 January 2023, which replaced the former Federal Law No. 11 of 1992. In Dubai, the Courts also apply Resolution No. 9 of 2024 on posting notices on the courts' website, which is supplementary and carries no independent legal effect.

No. MANJAZ is a publisher and service provider, not a court and not a law firm. It does not decide eligibility, does not issue or authorise the judicial notice, and does not appear before the court. It helps prepare and review the wording, coordinate certified translation, arrange the newspaper placement where required, and follow up the proof — according to the requirements of the competent court.

There is no publicly published official list of named newspapers. What the law sets out is a criterion, not a roster of titles: under Article 8 of Federal Decree-Law No. 42 of 2022, where service cannot be effected the competent Case Management Office or judge may notify the party by listing on the court's website, or by publication in a daily, widely circulated newspaper issued in the State in Arabic — and in a newspaper issued in a foreign language where the party to be served is a foreigner. Dubai Resolution No. 9 of 2024 follows the same idea, referring in its Arabic text to publication in 'the prescribed newspapers' (الصحف المقررة). In practice this means the newspaper must answer that statutory description and must be acceptable to the competent court in your case. Lists of newspaper names published on advertising or agency websites are commercial, not official, and should not be relied on. Confirm the acceptable paper with the competent court or its Case Management Office before publishing, subject to the requirements of the relevant authority.

The choice is not free. Even after a court has authorised service by publication, the newspaper used has to answer the description the Civil Procedure Law gives — a daily, widely circulated newspaper issued in the State in Arabic, with a foreign-language newspaper where the party served is a foreigner — and it has to be acceptable to the competent court, which under Article 8 acts through the Case Management Office or the competent judge. Choosing a paper on price or convenience alone, without checking that it meets the description and the court's direction, may put the value of the publication at risk and could mean the step has to be repeated, depending on the document and the case. MANJAZ coordinates the wording, the certified translation and the placement, and works to the court's requirements; it does not select the newspaper on its own authority and never guarantees an outcome.

The law describes the publication by its character rather than by its format: a daily newspaper, widely circulated, issued in the State, in Arabic. Article 8 of Federal Decree-Law 42/2022 also contemplates listing the notice on the court's own website as a route alongside newspaper publication. Whether a particular newspaper's electronic edition satisfies that description in your case, and what form of proof the file will accept, is for the competent court or its Case Management Office to direct — it is not something a service provider can decide. The practical rule is to agree the acceptable publication channel and the acceptable proof with the court before the notice is placed, because the object of the exercise is a record the file will accept without argument.

No — these are two different things and they should not be confused. Article 8 of Federal Decree-Law 42/2022 treats listing on the court's website as one of the routes the competent Case Management Office or judge may use to notify a party where service could not be effected. The Dubai Courts 'Service of Process e-Noticeboard' created by Dubai Resolution No. 9 of 2024 is separate and supplementary: Article 3 limits it to cases where service has already been carried out by posting or by publication in the prescribed newspapers, and Article 4 states expressly that posting on the e-noticeboard produces no legal effect. So seeing a notice about yourself on the e-noticeboard tells you a step has already happened elsewhere; it is not itself the notification, and the underlying case is what needs to be looked into.

A discrepancy between the published notice and the case papers is the most expensive mistake at this stage, because it may be raised later as an argument about whether the party was properly notified, and it may mean the publication has to be arranged again, with the cost and delay that involves. What follows from a defective notice in a particular case is for the competent court to determine; no service provider can promise that an error will be overlooked. This is why the wording is checked against the file before it goes to print, and why, where a foreign-language newspaper is used, a certified legal translation is used so the two versions carry the same content. Corrections are cheap before publication and expensive afterwards.