Trading and Customs

Import Export License UAE

Licence plus customs code

An import export license UAE traders actually use is two registrations, not one. There is the trade licence from the economic department, and there is the customs client code that ties that licence to the port. Without the second one your first container does not clear, and that is where most new traders discover the gap. We register both together.

Tell Us What You Ship See the Process

Tell Us What You Ship

The goods decide the activity codes, the approvals and sometimes the emirate.

Full Name

What are you trading?

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Customs Code Registered With the Licence

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Charges Quoted Separately

Restricted Goods Checked First

What We Handle

What an Import Export License UAE Wide Actually Requires

The licence is the quick part. The customs side is where shipments sit still, and it is entirely avoidable with the right registration order.

Activity Codes for Your Goods

Trading activities are specific to product categories. A licence that names the wrong category will not support a customs declaration for what is actually in the container.

Customs Client Code

The registration that links your trade licence to the customs system. Without it you have a company that may legally trade but cannot actually clear a shipment.

HS Classification

Every product sits under a harmonised system code, and that code drives duty treatment and which approvals apply. Getting it wrong is a costly correction at the port.

Restricted Goods Check

Food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, telecoms equipment and many other categories need clearance from a ministry beyond customs. We check this before you order stock, not after.

Warehousing and Storage

Where you hold goods interacts with your licence and your emirate. We arrange storage that matches how you actually move stock.

Tax Position

Import VAT treatment and tax registration handled against the criteria set by the Federal Tax Authority.

Compare

General Trading or Specific Trading

This is the decision traders get wrong most often, and it is not simply that broader is better.

What Matters	General Trading	Specific Trading
Range of goods	Broad, across categories	Named categories only
Adding a new product line	Usually already covered	Often needs an amendment
Restricted categories	Still need their own clearance	Still need their own clearance
Authority charges	Higher than specific	Lower
Suits	Traders whose catalogue moves	A settled product range

The Process

The Order That Keeps Containers Moving

Tell Us the Goods

What you are moving, where from, where to and whether anything in the list is edible, wearable, medicinal or electronic. Those four categories carry extra clearance.

Activity and Jurisdiction

Trading activity codes chosen against your product list, and mainland or free zone decided on whether you sell into the UAE market or re-export.

Licence Issued

Trade licence issued with the activities that match your goods, and the establishment card opened.

Customs Registration

Customs client code registered against the licence with the emirate's customs authority, Dubai Customs in Dubai, under the federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, so your declarations can actually be filed.

Product Clearances

Any ministry approvals your categories trigger obtained, and your first declarations supported so you are not learning the system on a live shipment.

Paperwork

What You Will Need to Provide

Passport copies for every shareholder

A product list, as specific as you can make it

Supplier invoices or proforma documents

Country of origin for each product line

Tenancy or warehouse documentation

Product certificates for regulated categories

The product list does more work here than anywhere else. It drives your activity codes, your HS classification and which clearances apply, so vague lists produce licences that do not fit what arrives. Dubai Customs is the authority for customs registration in Dubai, and the UAE government's business services overview is a useful cross-check elsewhere.

Questions

Trading and Customs Questions

Do I need a customs code as well as a licence?

Yes, and this is the single most common gap. The trade licence permits you to trade; the customs client code is what lets you file a declaration and take delivery. They are issued by different bodies. A company can be perfectly legal and still be unable to collect a container because nobody registered the second one.

General trading or a specific trading licence?

General trading costs more from the authority but saves you amending the licence every time you add a product line. If your catalogue is settled, specific trading is cheaper to run. If you expect to add categories, general usually pays for itself. Neither removes the need for clearance on regulated goods.

Which goods need extra approval?

Food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, telecoms and radio equipment, and anything with a safety or standards dimension typically need clearance from a ministry or regulator on top of customs. Some goods are prohibited outright. Send us the product list before you place an order, because this is not a problem you want to discover at the port.

Can a free zone company import into the mainland?

Goods can enter the mainland from a zone, but doing so is a customs movement with duty implications rather than a simple internal transfer, and selling to mainland customers generally needs a mainland entity or a distributor. If your buyers are here, that changes the structure, not just the paperwork.

What is re-export and does it suit me?

Bringing goods in and sending them out again without entering the local market. It is a common free zone model and the customs treatment differs from an import for sale. It suits traders using the UAE as a hub rather than as the destination, and the right structure follows from which of those you are.

Do I need a warehouse?

Only if you hold stock yourself. Many traders ship direct or use a third party logistics provider and never take physical possession. If you do store goods, the location interacts with your licence and your customs position, so tell us the plan before signing a lease.

Send Us the Product List

Tell us what you intend to move and where it is coming from. We will come back with the activity codes that cover it, the clearances your categories trigger, and what the authorities and we will each charge, in writing, before you order stock.

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