# Constitution of the United Arab Emirates/Part 5

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PART V FEDERAL LEGISLATION AND DECREES AND THE COMPETENT AUTHORITIES
CHAPTER (1) FEDERAL LAWS
Article (110)
    1. A federal law is enacted in accordance with the provisions of this Article and other relevant provisions of the Constitution.
    2. A bill becomes an act after the following procedures are taken:
       a. The Council of Ministers prepares the bill and sends it to the Federal National Council.
       b. The Council of Ministers submits the bill for approval to the President of the UAE who forwards it for sanctioning to the Supreme Council.
       c. The President of the UAE signs and promulgates the bill after it is sanctioned by the Supreme Council.
    3. a. If the Federal National Council introduces an amendment to a bill and that amendment is unacceptable to the President of the UAE or the Supreme Council, or if the FNC rejects a bill, the President of the UAE or the Supreme Council may return it to the FNC. If the FNC introduces an amendment to the bill which is unacceptable to the President of the UAE or the Supreme Council, or if the FNC decides to reject the bill, the President of the UAE may promulgate the bill
​after it is sanctioned by the Supreme Council.
       b. The word “bill” in this paragraph means the bill which is submitted to the President of the UAE by the Council of Ministers including the amendments, if any, introduced to it by the FNC.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if in the absence of the FNC, a need emerges for enacting a federal act, the Federal Council of Ministers may take the necessary action for promulgating it by the Supreme Council and the President of the UAE, provided that the FNC must be so notified at its next meeting.
Article (111)
An act is published in the Official Gazette of the UAE within a maximum of two weeks from the date it is signed and promulgated by the President of the UAE after it is sanctioned by the Supreme Council. An act is put into operation after one month from the date it is published in the Official Gazette unless another date is specified in the act itself.
Article (112)
An act applies only from the date it is put into operation and does not apply regressively. In non-criminal matters, an act may, when necessary, otherwise provides.
CHAPTER (2) DECREE LAWS
Article (113)
If, while the Supreme Council is in recess, a state of urgency emerges which requires the enactment of a federal act, the President of the UAE together with the Council of Ministers may promulgate that act in the form of a decree law insofar as that act is not in conflict with the Constitution.
A decree law must be submitted within a maximum of a week to the Supreme Council for approval or disapproval. If the decree law is approved, it takes the force of a law and the Federal National Council is so notified at its next meeting.
If the Supreme Council disapproves the decree law, the decree law ceases to have the force of law unless the Supreme Council decides to sanction its application in the preceding period or settles in another way the effects resulting from its application.
CHAPTER (3) ORDINARY DECREES
Article (114)
For a decree to be promulgated, it must be approved by the Council of Ministers and sanctioned by the President of the UAE or the Supreme Council, as the case may be. A decree is published in the Official Gazette after it is signed by the President of the UAE.
Article (115)
The Supreme Council may delegate the President of the UAE together with the Council of Ministers to promulgate, in the absence of the Supreme Council, an urgent decree which in the ordinary course of action must have been sanctioned by the Supreme Council itself provided that the delegation of this power does not include the ratification of international treaties and conventions, or the declaration or lifting of martial law, or the declaration of a defensive war, or the appointment of the Chief Justice or the judges of the Federal Supreme Court.