Importing into the UAE is not hard. It is just a list of steps, and each one has a document attached to it.

This guide gives you that list twice. Part one covers every import, whatever the product. Part two covers food, which adds a second layer on top of part one.

If you are importing food, you do both parts. If you are importing anything else, part one is your whole job.

Part One. The General Import File

This applies to every product entering the UAE.

Step 1. Get a trade licence

You need a licence from the Department of Economic Development of your emirate, or from a free zone authority. The activity written on it has to cover the goods you plan to bring in.

A licence for consultancy will not clear a container of furniture. Check the wording before you buy anything.

Step 2. Get a customs code

Also called an importer code. It links your company to the customs system, and nothing clears without it.

Apply through your emirate's customs portal. For Dubai that is Dubai Trade. You submit your trade licence, the passport and Emirates ID of the authorised signatory, and your tenancy contract.

It usually comes back within a few working days and renews with your licence.

Step 3. Prepare the six core documents

Every shipment needs these.

The invoice needs the seller and buyer details, a clear description of the goods, quantity, unit price, total value, country of origin and the HS code. The packing list needs weight, packing method and HS code per line.

The numbers on all three have to match. Mismatched values across the invoice, the bill of lading and the packing list cause more delays than anything else on this page.

Step 4. Attest the invoice

Any import invoice worth AED 10,000 or more must be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This came in under Cabinet Resolution No. 38 of 2022 and started on 1 February 2023.

Do it online through the eDAS system.

You are exempt if the goods come from a GCC country, go into a free zone, are personal imports, or are worth under AED 10,000.

Step 5. Use the right HS code

The GCC moved from 8 digit codes to a 12 digit Integrated Customs Tariff. Tariff lines jumped from around 7,800 to over 13,400, so one old code can now split into several new ones.

Dubai Customs set out the timeline in Customs Notice 10/2025.

Phase 3 is live now, so check your codes before your next booking. The official phase document is here. Goods going into free zones stay on 8 digit codes.

Step 6. Pay duty and VAT

CIF means the cost of the goods plus insurance plus freight. VAT of 5% is charged on top, calculated on the CIF value plus the duty.

The certificate of origin decides whether you get the 0% rate. Without a valid one you pay the standard rate whatever the true source.

Step 7. Check for a product permit

Some categories need approval from a specific authority before clearance. Telecom equipment, medicines, medical devices, chemicals, cosmetics and many electrical goods all fall under this.

Check the requirement against your HS code early. The permit almost always has to exist before the goods load.

Part Two. The Extra Layer for Food

Everything in part one still applies. Food adds the following.

Step 1. Put a food activity on your licence

A general trading licence will not carry a food shipment. The licence has to name food trading.

Step 2. Register your company on the food systems

You register on ZAD plus the system of the emirate you clear through. You also declare the warehouses where the goods will be stored.

Step 3. Register the product

Under Ministerial Decree No. 239 of 2018, every food item sold in the UAE has to sit in ZAD before it reaches the market.

You submit the barcode, country of origin, package type, weight, brand, manufacturer name and address, trade name, full ingredient list, any additives, storage temperature and shelf life. You upload a clear image of the label in Arabic and English, plus a photo of the finished pack.

If the pack carries a nutrition or health claim, you also need an official certificate from the origin country backing it up.

The system then sets a risk level and decides which lab tests apply. Approval comes back as a registration certificate. Background on the law sits on the UAE government food safety page.

Step 4. Get the label right

Arabic is mandatory. English can sit beside it. A firmly fixed sticker is allowed as long as it covers nothing on the original pack.

Your label needs the following.

• Product name
• Ingredients in descending order of weight
• Allergen warnings
• Net quantity in metric units
• Manufacturer and importer name and address
• Country of origin
• Batch number
• Production and expiry dates
• Storage instructions
• Nutrition table

Lock the artwork before you print. Fixing a label after the pallet lands costs far more than fixing it before.

Step 5. Collect the certificates at origin

These travel with the shipment and get checked at the port.

Inspectors can ask for more depending on the product and the origin country. Common extras include a GMO free certificate, an avian flu free certificate, a dioxin free certificate, a radiation free certificate and an organic certificate.

Step 6. Handle the category specific approvals

Meat and poultry. The halal certificate has to come from a body accredited by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. Check your supplier against the registered halal bodies list before you buy. A certificate from an unlisted body is worthless at the port.

Plant material. You need an electronic import permit from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment before the goods load. Apply through the MOCCAE import permit service. The permit and the phytosanitary certificate have to match on species, HS code, origin, port and packing. One mismatch sends the file to manual review. Release after arrival goes through the agricultural consignment release service.

Regulated categories. Bottled water, energy drinks, honey, juices, milk and dairy also need an Emirates Conformity Assessment Scheme certificate.

Pork. Live swine cannot enter at all. Pork products need special permits and can only be sold in designated non Muslim sections.

Step 7. File the import request before arrival

Product registration is a one time job. Every shipment after that still needs its own request, filed before the goods land.

For Dubai you submit the bill of entry, delivery order, packing list, health certificate and any halal or category certificates through FIRS.

Step 8. Clear inspection

Food clearance runs on risk scoring. Some shipments pass on documents alone. Others get physically inspected, and some get sampled and sent to the lab.

Inspectors also check how much shelf life is left when the goods arrive. Product sitting close to expiry gets rejected, so plan the production date and the sailing date together.

Two Real Life Walkthroughs

James brings a chilli sauce from the UK

James runs a small sauce brand in Bristol. A Dubai distributor wants 2,000 bottles.

Here is what he and his UAE partner actually did.

1. The distributor checked his licence. It already carried a food trading activity, so nothing to fix.
2. He got his customs code through Dubai Trade, using his trade licence and Emirates ID.
3. They registered the company on ZAD and FIRS.
4. James sent the full recipe. The distributor entered it into ZAD line by line, with the barcode, jar size, manufacturer address and shelf life.
5. The label was redone. The UK label had no Arabic. A new bilingual label was designed with the ingredient list, allergen warning, net weight, batch number, production and expiry dates, and the UAE importer's name.
6. ZAD came back approved with a registration certificate.
7. James got a health certificate from his local UK authority confirming the sauce was fit for human consumption.
8. He shipped. Commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin stamped by his chamber of commerce, and the bill of lading.
9. The invoice was attested. Value was AED 46,000, so it went through eDAS at AED 150.
10. The import request went into FIRS before the vessel arrived.
11. Customs cleared it at the correct 12 digit code. Sauce sits at 5% duty plus 5% VAT.
12. Dubai Municipality inspected the consignment, pulled a sample, tested it and released it.

Total time from first conversation to shelf, about ten weeks. Most of that was the label and the ZAD registration.

Omar brings phones from Shenzhen

Omar imports consumer electronics into Dubai.

1. His licence covers electronics trading.
2. His customs code was already active from previous shipments.
3. He checked the permit requirement. Phones need telecom regulator approval, so he applied before the order shipped.
4. He confirmed the 12 digit HS code. His old 8 digit code had split into three new lines.
5. The supplier issued the commercial invoice, packing list and certificate of origin from the Chinese chamber of commerce.
6. The airway bill came through and the delivery order followed from the agent.
7. The invoice was attested through eDAS. AED 150, well inside the 14 day window.
8. The declaration was filed on Dubai Trade with the correct code.
9. Duty and VAT were paid. 5% duty on the CIF value, then 5% VAT on top of that total.
10. Customs scanned the shipment and released it.

Cleared in two days. No product registration, no label approval, no certificates from a health authority. That gap between the two stories is the whole point of this guide.

Why Shipments Get Held

The same handful of problems, over and over.

1. Values that do not match across the invoice, bill of lading and packing list
2. An old HS code that no longer exists under the 12 digit system
3. An invoice over AED 10,000 that never got attested
4. A halal certificate from a body the UAE does not recognise
5. A phytosanitary certificate missing a required declaration
6. An Arabic label finalised after production instead of before
7. A permit applied for after the goods landed instead of before they loaded

Every one of these is cheap to prevent and expensive to fix.

Who Is ASAFI

ASAFI is a UAE based agricultural commodity trading company. We source directly from farms and supply markets across the Gulf and Europe.

Our work sits on both sides of this process. At the origin end we make sure certificates are issued correctly the first time. At the UAE end we handle the clearance so the goods move on schedule.

If you want to talk through a shipment, reach us at info@asafi.com.