C. Requirements for Marketing

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1.

Compliance with all applicable laws and regulation. All Marketing of or relating to any Virtual Asset or VA Activity in or targeting the UAE must comply with—

a.	all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines or other rules in the UAE and the Emirate, including, but not limited to, these Marketing Regulations, and those relating to advertising, data protection and consumer protection;
b.	all requirements to obtain and maintain any necessary approvals, permits and/or licences as may be imposed by competent authorities; and
c.	any other conditions as may be communicated by VARA to the relevant Entity(ies) from time to time.

2.

General requirements. All Marketing of or relating to any Virtual Asset or VA Activity in or targeting the UAE must—

a.

be fair, clear and not misleading in both substance and presentation;

b.

be clearly identifiable as marketing or promotional in nature;

c.

not contain content that may be inconsistent with or contradict the following—

i.

Virtual Assets may lose their value in part or in full, and are subject to extreme volatility at times;

ii.

Virtual Assets may not always be transferable, and some transfers may be irreversible;

iii.

the owner and/or investor in the Virtual Asset:

a)	can lose all, or part of, the money or other value they invest; and
b)	will not benefit from any form of financial protection;

iv.

Virtual Assets may not be liquid;

v.

Virtual Assets are not all private and may be recorded on public DLTs;

vi.

Virtual Assets:

a)	may be subject to fraud, manipulation, theft, including through hacks and other targeted schemes, and may not benefit from legal protections;
b)	hence must not exploit the credulity, inexperience or lack of knowledge of consumers; or
c)	must not contain contradictory messages, in particular where disclaimers, asterisked, footnoted or “small print” information contradicts more prominent aspects or the overall message conveyed;

d.

not contain any inaccurate or misleading information;

e.

not state or imply that investments are safe, low risk or that returns are guaranteed;

f.

not state or imply that investment decisions are trivial, simple, or easy;

g.

not state or imply that past performance of investments guarantees, or is indicative of future results;

h.

not state or imply any urgency, or create a fear of missing out on future appreciation in value or profits due to inaction;

i.

not promote or advocate the acquisition of Virtual Assets and/or use of any product and/or service related to any VA Activities using credit or other interest accruing facilities, unless the subject Entity of the Marketing is Licensed by VARA to provide such credit or interest accruing facilities;

j.

ensure that all targeted Marketing is undertaken responsibly and presents only appropriate Virtual Assets, products and/or services to the audience being targeted, including, but not limited to, if the Virtual Asset, product and/or service may only be made available to certain classifications of investors, then such targeted Marketing must exclusively be presented/accessible only to such classifications of investors;

k.

if any Marketing involves any third-party Entities posting, publicising, or otherwise presenting content in exchange for any form of remuneration or other value in kind, a clear and prominent notification that such content was posted, publicised or otherwise presented as part of a remunerated arrangement; and

l.

Incentives. Entities offering any monetary or non-monetary incentive in relation to any Virtual Asset or any product and/or service related to any VA Activity must ensure all such monetary or non-monetary incentives—

i.	are not used in such a way that they are likely to divert or mislead investors’ focus from the proper consideration of the risks associated with the Virtual Asset or any product and/or service related to any VA Activity;
ii.	are available for an adequate period of time in order to comply with Marketing Regulation I.C.2.h; and
iii.	must receive a compliance confirmation from VARA, and comply with all conditions or restrictions notified by VARA at the time of approval or at a later date.

3.

Marketing of Virtual Assets. In addition to all requirements in Marketing Regulation I.C.1 and I.C.2, Marketing of or relating to any Virtual Asset in or targeting the UAE must—

a.	not include a call to buy, or other messaging seeking, instructing or directing the purchase and/or sale of the Virtual Asset;
b.	include a prominent disclaimer that Virtual Assets may lose their value in full or in part, and are subject to extreme volatility;
c.	state clearly that the owner and/or investor in the Virtual Asset can lose all the money or other value they invest, and does not benefit from any form of financial protection; and
d.	not involve the sending of any Virtual Asset to a VA Wallet without prior consent, or a clear expression of interest from the owner of the VA Wallet to the receipt of the Virtual Asset.

4.

Record keeping. All Entities Marketing any VA Activity or Virtual Asset in or targeting the UAE, must retain a record of all Marketing and details of distribution of such Marketing, for a minimum of eight (8) years from the date on which such Marketing is last conducted. All records shall be made available for VARA’s inspection upon VARA’s request, subject to compliance with applicable laws.

5.

Marketing agencies. If an Entity enters into an arrangement with a third party wherein Marketing is conducted on its behalf by such third party, whether in the form of agency agreement or otherwise—

a.

the Entity instructing the third party remains responsible at all times for ensuring any Marketing conducted by the third party complies with these Marketing Regulations; and

b.

the third party—

i.	must take all commercially reasonable steps to ensure any Marketing it carries out, complies with these Marketing Regulations, including but not limited to the necessary diligence to ensure the instructing Entity is permitted to carry out Marketing in or targeting the UAE, under these Marketing Regulations;
ii.	must obtain approval from the instructing Entity prior to carrying out any Marketing on their behalf; and
iii.	without prejudice to I.C.5.a, will be held liable for breach of these Marketing Regulations if it fails to comply with its obligations under this Marketing Regulation ‎I.C.5.b.