In a new Ministerial Decision which has attracted much attention, the Ministry of Manpower has set out a requirement that all manpower agencies in the Sultanate must be managed by Omani nationals. Ministerial Decision No. 420-2012 stipulates that expatriates will not be permitted to manage manpower agencies, as is common practice currently. The Ministerial Decision, which takes effect from 01 May 2014, requires that all Omanis who own a manpower agency will be required to either (i) manage the manpower agency themselves on a full-time basis (and accordingly must forego outside employment in the Government or private sector), or (ii) hire another Omani to manage the manpower agency.