Check UAE law first. The London policy wording comes second.

When a work moves to another country, two questions arise, and people usually take them in the wrong order. First, does the law of the new country allow the cover to be written from abroad at all? Second, does the policy itself cover the new address? If the policy covers the address but the law forbids it, the owner was not allowed to take it out.

Published by ArtisDomus, written by Polina Surina.

Take a work in the United Arab Emirates, insured under a United Kingdom wording. For what a policy schedule and a catalogue must contain first, see insuring and cataloguing across two countries.

The law is Federal Decree-Law No. (6) of 2025 Regarding the Central Bank, Regulation of Financial Institutions and Activities, and Insurance Business. It has been in force since 16 September 2025, and it is published in the rulebook of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. It is federal, so it applies in Dubai as in every other emirate. It applies to the Central Bank, financial institutions, insurance business, financial activities and persons subject to it (Article (2)). It does not apply to the Financial Free Zones in the State, or to financial institutions regulated by the authorities of those zones.

Article (82) deals with insurance with a company outside the State or in a financial free zone. It has four items. Under item 1, only insurance companies licensed under the decree-law may insure, or broker insurance of, property in the State or liabilities arising from it. Item 2 lets an insurance company reinsure with another reinsurance company inside or outside the State, or in a financial free zone.

Item 3 is the one a private owner must read. No person may insure any funds or property in the State, or liabilities arising there, with a foreign insurance company outside the State or in a financial free zone. And no legal entity in the State may insure its staff in the State with insurance companies outside the State or in a financial free zone.

Two things follow. The ban binds the person who takes out the policy, which is the owner. And the item names insurers in a financial free zone, such as the Dubai International Financial Centre or the Abu Dhabi Global Market, alongside insurers outside the State. So choosing a free zone insurer does not get round it.

Item 4 is the exception, and its conditions are real. Insurance may be placed with a company outside the State or in a financial free zone in three cases. First, where the required cover is not available in the State. Second, where insurance companies decline, or are unable, to provide it. Third, for any other reason the Central Bank decides. The Board of Directors may issue regulations setting controls and conditions for this.

Three more articles complete the picture. No person may carry on a licensed financial activity without the required licence (Article (60)(1)). Licensed financial activities may be carried on in or from the State only by persons licensed under the decree-law (Article (60)(2)). These activities include providing insurance, reinsurance, and insurance-related professions business and services (Article (61)(1)(j)). Anyone who carries on an activity listed in item (1) of Article (61) without a licence or authorisation faces imprisonment and a fine, or either of these (Article (170)). The fine is at least fifty thousand dirhams and at most five hundred million dirhams.

Until 2025 the same ban was in Article (12) of Federal Decree-Law No. (48) of 2023 Regulating Insurance Activities. Its item 3 barred any person from insuring money or property in the State, or liabilities arising there, with an insurance company outside the State. Item 4 had the same exception, with controls and conditions to be set by the Board.

Article (185) of the 2025 decree-law repeals Decretal Federal Law No. (14) of 2018 and Federal Decree-Law No. (48) of 2023. It also repeals any provision of the laws in force in the State that conflicts with it. The Central Bank’s rulebook marks the 2023 decree-law as repealed and names the law that repealed it.

The change matters for a work stored or hung in the Gulf. The 2023 text named an insurance company outside the State. The 2025 text names a foreign insurance company outside the State or in a financial free zone. Cover placed with a Dubai International Financial Centre or Abu Dhabi Global Market insurer under the old text should be checked again under the new one.

All agencies and persons subject to the decree-law have one year from its entry into force to bring their position into line with it. The Board of Directors may extend that period (Article (184)).

There is no standard fine art policy and no market rule on territory. Take one United Kingdom wording: the Fine Art Insurance policy document of Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc. Other insurers’ wordings will differ.

In that wording, only the cover clause sets where the art is covered. The insurer pays for damage to an item of art during the period of insurance while it is at the premises, or at other locations the insurer has agreed. Premises means the part of the buildings and grounds at the addresses shown in the schedule. “Geographical limits” is a separate defined term: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The wording uses it to say where an authorised volunteer must normally live. For the settlement basis and the temporary removal, transit and unoccupancy terms, see insuring and cataloguing across two countries.

So under this wording, a villa abroad is covered only if it is an address on the schedule or a location agreed in writing. That answers the policy question and gives no legal permission. A schedule can name an address that the local law does not allow a foreign insurer to cover.

Under general condition 15 (Law applicable), the policy is governed by and interpreted under the law of England and Wales. The exception is where the insured’s habitual residence (for an individual), or central administration or place of establishment, is in Scotland. Then the law of Scotland applies. So the governing law follows where the insured lives, and the location of the work plays no part. An owner living in England with a painting in Dubai has an English contract about a work in the Gulf.

General condition 11 (Arbitration) applies once the insurer has admitted liability for a claim. Any dispute about the amount to be paid then goes to arbitration under the statutory provisions in force at the time. The parties agree an arbitrator. If they cannot agree, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators appoints one at the request of either party, on seven days’ written notice. The insured must not take legal action against the insurer over the dispute before the arbitrator has decided.

General condition 13 deals with sanctions. The insurer gives no cover, pays no claim and provides no benefit to the extent that doing so would expose it to any sanction, prohibition or restriction. The sanctions meant are those under United Nations resolutions, or under the trade or economic sanctions laws or regulations of the European Union, the United Kingdom or the United States of America. If such a restriction takes effect during the period of insurance, either party may cancel the affected part of the policy at once by written notice. The premium is then returned in proportion, provided no claims have been paid or are outstanding.

The fourth sits outside the policy terms, yet it decides what the promise is worth. The document explains that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) gives the insured their money back if their authorised financial services provider cannot meet its obligations. The FSCS can only pay compensation to customers of firms authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc is registered in England, authorised by the PRA, and regulated by the FCA and the PRA (firm reference number 113848).

Because of these four terms, a foreign address changes the risk for the owner as much as for the insurer. The contract is English. Disputes go to an English arbitration. The sanctions clause refers to three jurisdictions, none of them the country where the work is. And the compensation scheme behind the insurer is a United Kingdom scheme, tied to a United Kingdom authorisation.

The Financial Conduct Authority has guidance for United Kingdom general insurers and intermediaries, last updated on 5 December 2025. It says that whether a firm needs regulatory permissions in a local EEA (European Economic Area) jurisdiction depends on local law and the approach of the local authorities there. It expects firms to act in line with local laws and local regulators’ expectations, while still aiming for appropriate outcomes for their customers. Insurers that plan to rely on the saving provision to keep servicing EEA risks or commitments should engage proactively with the relevant EEA authorities.

The guidance covers the European Economic Area and names no other territory. It says nothing about the United Arab Emirates. On the question the owner is really asking, it points to local law. For a villa in Dubai, that is Article (82) of the 2025 decree-law.

Whether a policy taken out in London for an address in Dubai falls under Article (60) or Article (170) of that decree-law depends on where the activity is carried on.

ArtisDomus works through five steps, in this order.

The order matters because the two questions fail in different ways. A policy that does not cover the address fails at the claim: late, but survivable. A policy the owner was not allowed to take out fails the moment it is concluded. No later correspondence with the insurer can repair it.

A summary of the law for general information. It is not legal or tax advice.