UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Alain Zahlan de Cayetti and Anna Sedova, De Cayetti Law
Finally, as in most civil law jurisdictions, moral rights cannot be transferred in the UAE: the author retains the right to be credited as author, and the author can always object to the distortion or modification of the work. Restrictions apply to image rights in so far as they relate to personal rights (image rights cannot be per - petually transferred and are usually licensed rather than assigned). Leagues and federations have the power to limit the way in which clubs or athletes assign commercial rights (in particular, in relation to broadcasting, sponsorship and league branding). Competition and consumer regulations applicable in the UAE apply and scrutinise IP rights assignments, with the concern being not to mislead consumers or distort market competition. 5.7 Data in Sport Sports data is regulated in the UAE by Federal Decree- Law No 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data and by Federal Decree-Law No 38 of 2021 on Copyright and Neighboring Rights (where databases or audiovisual works are concerned). Sports organi - sations in the UAE collect and analyse – generally through wearable technology and video analysis sys - tems – several categories of data concerning athletes (injuries, performance statistics, history, etc). Sports organisations collect fan and spectators’ engagement data through digital platforms (eg, demography, ticket purchasing behaviour and social media metrics). Modern sporting equipment generates data collected by sports organisations, including, in particular, per - formance data from racing cars, training data and environmental data for venues’ management. Teams collect data to analyse and enhance athletes’ per - formance. Event managers collect data to improve stadium security, crowd management and spectator experience. Fan engagement’s data is collected by Sports bodies to optimise and personalise ticketing and membership programmes. The collected data may be licensed to broadcasters, media companies and sports analytics providers. Fan data allows sponsors to run targeted marketing campaigns – such is the case in major UAE sporting
events. Even though sports betting is tightly regulated in the UAE, international competitions hosted in the country generate sports data used globally by betting markets and monitoring systems. Data and analytics are often used to create television graphics and match analysis programmes, through broadcasting partner - ships and media rights agreements. 5.8 Data Protection Federal Decree-Law No 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data applies to persons located in the UAE and is supervised by the UAE Data Office. Personal data is protected in so far as it relates to identifiable individuals such as athletes, fans, spectators, staff and volunteers, etc. Additional protection is granted for sensitive personal data (health, biometrics), which requires explicit consent (or a lawful basis). The afore - mentioned law restricts personal data transfers out - side the UAE, unless the destination country provides an adequate level of protection or gives appropriate safeguards. Some sports organisations in the UAE operate from financial free zones that have their own data protection regulations, such as the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) under the DIFC Data Protection Law No 5 of 2020 amended by Law No 1 of 2025, and the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) with the ADGM Data Protection Regulations of 2021. These regimes are mainly modelled on the GDPR and impose stricter compliance obligations for organisations operating within those jurisdictions. The GDPR may apply to sports organisations in the UAE where they process personal data of (or offer goods or services to) individuals in the EU, or monitor the behaviour of EU-based individuals. The GDPR are not UAE regulations but influence sports organisations operating internationally. In that respect, for instance, international federations and sports teams participat - ing in competitions involving EU athletes must ensure that athlete data processing complies with GDPR requirements. The same applies to broadcasting and fan engagement events involving EU spectators. Such is the case, for instance, for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the UAE Pro League.
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