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ailure to Report Crimes under the UAE Law on Crimes and Penalties: Duties of Public Officers, Health Professionals, and the General Duty to Notify Authorities
The legislative rationale and the protected public interest
Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 Promulgating the Law on Crimes and Penalties treats reporting crimes, in certain contexts, not as a voluntary act but as a legal duty, especially for those whose functions or professions place them in direct contact with facts indicating criminal conduct. Articles (321) to (323) aim to protect society from the harmful consequences of silence or delay—consequences that may enable offenders to escape accountability, lead to the loss of evidence, or prevent timely intervention in situations requiring investigation or protection.
Duty of reporting for a public officer tasked with detecting or seizing crimes
Article (321), first paragraph – Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 punishes by imprisonment or a fine any public officer charged with searching for crimes or seizing them who neglects or delays notifying authorities about a crime that came to his knowledge. The provision reflects that the nature of such an officer’s role creates an elevated obligation to report promptly, and that negligence or postponement is treated as a breach with direct impact on crime detection and evidence preservation.
Duty of reporting for other public officers who learn of crimes through their duties
Article (321), second paragraph – Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 punishes by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one (1) year or a fine any public officer who is not charged with crime detection or seizure, but who neglects or delays informing the competent authority of a crime he learned of during or because of the performance of his duties. This extends liability beyond law-enforcement roles to any public employee whose work exposes him to criminal facts, while providing a different penalty framework from the first paragraph.
Exception for complaint-based offenses and discretionary exemption due to kinship
Article (321), third paragraph – Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 provides that there is no punishment in the two preceding cases if the initiation of criminal proceedings is conditional upon a complaint. This reflects respect for the nature of complaint-based offenses, where the law itself restricts prosecution unless the concerned person files a complaint.
Article (321), fourth paragraph – Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 allows the court to exempt from the penalty in the second paragraph if the public officer is the offender’s spouse, ascendant, descendant, brother, sister, or relatives in the same position by affinity (in-law relationships). The exemption is discretionary rather than mandatory, and it is expressly tied to the second paragraph’s situation.
Reporting duty for medical and health professionals in suspicious death or serious injury cases
Article (322) – Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 Promulgating the Law on Crimes and Penalties punishes anyone who, while practicing a medical or health profession, examines a deceased person or provides aid to a person with a serious injury, where there are signs indicating that the death or injury resulted from a crime, or where other circumstances exist that raise suspicion as to the cause, and fails to report the matter to the authorities. The penalty is imprisonment for a term not less than one (1) year and a fine not less than AED 20,000 (twenty thousand), or either of these two penalties. This provision imposes a heightened reporting duty on medical and health professionals because they may be the first to observe indicators of criminality, and silence in such cases can compromise investigation and delay necessary intervention.
General duty to report for anyone who learns of a crime
Article (323) – Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 punishes by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one (1) year or a fine anyone who learns that a crime has occurred and fails to report it to the competent authorities. The provision confirms that the reporting duty is not limited to public officers or health professionals, but can extend as a general obligation where knowledge of a crime exists and reporting is withheld.
Article (323), second paragraph – Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 further allows the court to exempt from this punishment if the person who fails to report is the offender’s spouse, ascendant, descendant, brother, or relatives in the same position by affinity. This is likewise a discretionary exemption tied to defined kinship or affinity relationships.
Accordingly, Articles (321) to (323) – Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021
treat failure to report as conduct that can directly affect public safety and the administration of justice, distinguishing between the duty of officers tasked with detection/seizure, the duty of other public officers who learn of crimes through work, the heightened duty of medical/health professionals in suspicious death or serious injury, and a broader duty applicable to any person who learns of a crime—while recognizing complaint-based offenses and providing discretionary exemptions based on close family or in-law relationships in defined cases.
Piter Bowman
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