Photographing people in Dubai: what the law says, word for word

The current instrument

Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on Countering Rumours and Cybercrimes, issued 20 September 2021, in force 2 January 2022. Its Article 73, verbatim: “The Decree-Law No. (5) of 2012 on Combating Cybercrimes is hereby repealed.”

Any page telling you about Federal Law 5 of 2012 is citing a dead instrument. That includes, as of 4 September 2026, a page on the UAE government portal itself, last updated 19 August 2021, which presents the 2012 law as current and also cites “Article 378 of the UAE Penal Code” — 1987 numbering, repealed with that code.

Article 44, verbatim

“Whoever uses an information network, an IS, or any ITE with the intention of invading the privacy or sanctity of private or familial life of someone without his consent in cases other than those authorized by law through committing any of the following actions shall be punished with imprisonment for at least (6) six months and/ or a fine of not less than (AED 150,000) one hundred fifty thousand dirhams or more than (AED 500,000) fiver [sic] hundred thousand dirhams:

1. Eavesdropping, intercepting, recording, transmitting, broadcasting, or revealing conversations, communications or audio or visual materials.

2. Taking photos of third parties in any public or private place, or preparing, transferring, disclosing, copying or keeping electronic photos.

3. Publishing news, electronic photos, images, scenes, comments, data or information, even if it is true and genuine, with intention of harming the person.

4. Taking, transmitting, or publishing photos of the injured, the dead, or the victims of accidents or disasters without permission or consent of the parties concerned.”

The misspelling of “five” is in the official English translation. We reproduce it rather than tidying it.

Reading it precisely, because everyone gets this wrong

Three things follow from the structure of the text.

• Publication is not an element of clause 2. Taking the photograph completes it, and so does merely keeping it. Clause 3 is the separate publishing offence, and it carries its own extra element — “with intention of harming the person” — which clause 2 does not.
• The statute expressly reaches public places. “in any public or private place”. There is no public-place carve-out in the text, and no authority publishes one elsewhere.
• The chapeau does the limiting work. A prosecution must establish the intention of invading privacy. That mental element is the only published gate between a tourist’s street snapshot and the offence — and no authority publishes any guidance on how it is assessed. That is the honest position, and we leave it unresolved rather than reassuring you in either direction.

A separate limb of the same article: modifying or processing any record, photo or scene with intent to defame or insult carries imprisonment of at least one year and/or a fine of not less than AED 250,000.

The UAE government portal’s own visitor guidance says simply “Do not photograph people without their permission”, which is the practical version of the above.

Where photography is prohibited — and what is not published

u.ae publishes three sentences: photography of “certain government buildings and military installations is not allowed”, and “Photographing aircraft and plane spotting are illegal”. The word “certain” is doing a great deal of work and is never defined. There is no published list, no map, no signage standard, no penalty attached to this specific prohibition and no cited instrument. An authority publishes a rule and publishes nothing that lets you comply with it.

So Dubai’s two largest malls, the metro and the public beaches publish no photography policy at all. Whatever mall security enforces is unpublished.

Personal or commercial? The line is not published anywhere

Federal Decree-Law No. 55 of 2023 Regulating Media, in force 1 December 2023, Article 13, verbatim:

“The Competent Authority shall issue permits for practising land, aerial, or marine photography activities, including approval of texts and content, after coordination with the Concerned Authorities.”

Cabinet Resolution No. (41) of 2025 prices them: AED 500 for one day for a ground filming permit, the same for aerial, the same for maritime, and AED 500 for a permit to bring in filming equipment accompanying media personnel and film crews. Administrative fines under the media law run from AED 1,000 to AED 1,000,000, doubled on repetition to AED 2,000,000.

And now the gap. No threshold is published at any level of government for when a visitor’s photography becomes a “photography activity” needing that permit. The law defines none. The only published exemption covers government and educational digital platforms, not individuals. The Media Council’s FAQ does not address it. Dubai Airports uses “commercial in nature” as a trigger without defining it. Nobody publishes anything about tripods, gimbals, interchangeable lenses or crew size.

Dubai’s own film commission is worse than silent: its permit-fees page, terms, FAQs and aerial-application pages are still indexed by search engines and all return HTTP 401 to the public, while its replacement site serves no readable content. Dubai’s film commission publishes its permit conditions and fee schedule at addresses a member of the public cannot read.

Filming an accident: two instruments, two very different exposures

The AED 1,000 traffic fine everyone quotes is real, and it is not for photography. Ministerial Resolution No. 178 of 2017, item 74, publishes the violation as “Rubber neck (crowding) at the scenes of traffic accidents” — AED 1,000, no black points, no vehicle retention. The word “photography” does not appear in that item, and no filming violation appears anywhere in the traffic schedule.

The photography exposure at an accident scene comes from Article 44(4) above: taking, transmitting or publishing photos of the injured, the dead or the victims of accidents without consent — AED 150,000 to 500,000 and imprisonment. Two instruments, a 150-fold difference, and no authority publishes anything reconciling them for a member of the public.

Questions no authority answers

• Is a phone snapshot of a street scene with strangers in it an offence? The statute covers taking photos of third parties in public places; the chapeau requires intent to invade privacy; no authority publishes how that intent is assessed. This is the question, and nobody answers it.
• Does “third parties” mean identifiable people, or anyone in frame? Undefined.
• What counts as consent, and does it have to come from everyone in a crowd shot? Nothing published.
• Are children treated differently? No published rule.
• Does deleting the photo when asked end the matter? Nothing published.
• Which government buildings? No list, no map, no signage standard exists in published form.
• Does “photographing aircraft is illegal” include the plane you are boarding, or the view from your window seat? Nothing published, and this is routine tourist behaviour.
• Can a passenger take a selfie in the DXB terminal? Dubai Airports addresses only production crews.
• Can you photograph inside a metro station, a mall, on a beach, in a taxi? No operator publishes a rule for any of them.
• Are tripods and gimbals permitted anywhere? No published rule from any operator.
• Is a travel vlogger filming themselves doing “media activity”? Nothing published — and an AED 1,000 to 1,000,000 administrative fine range sits behind that unanswered question.
• Is filming police or an arrest an offence? No authority publishes a rule either way for the street.

Drone photography is a separate and much more restricted matter — see drones in Dubai.

This transcribes the current federal instruments, not legal advice. The offence turns on an intention no authority publishes guidance about, so this page cannot tell you whether a specific photograph is lawful — and neither can any published source.

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