DMCC Activity List: How to Find and Pick the Right Licence

DMCC Activity List: How to Find and Pick the Right Licence

If you're setting up in Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, the DMCC activity list is the first thing you need to wrestle with. Pick the wrong activity and you'll redo your licence, your visa quotas, and sometimes your bank application. Here's the straight version.

Quick answer

The DMCC activity list is the official register of business activities you can licence inside the DMCC free zone. It sits inside the DMCC member portal and is searchable by keyword or category — trading, services, industrial, professional, and regulated activities like financial, education, and media. You select up to six activities per licence (more in some packages), each tied to a specific activity code. Some activities need external approvals from regulators like the SCA (Securities and Commodities Authority), KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority), or DET (Department of Economy and Tourism) before DMCC will issue the licence.

Where the DMCC activity list actually lives

The current DMCC activity list is published inside the DMCC member portal and on the public DMCC website under "Business Activities". You won't find a single downloadable PDF that stays accurate for long — DMCC updates the list regularly, adding new categories (crypto, AI services, ESG consultancy) and retiring others.

For a public preview before you sign up, use the activity search tool on dmcc.ae. You type a keyword — say "software" or "gold bullion" — and it returns matching activities with their codes and any flags for external approval.^[1]

If you're already a member, the portal version is the authoritative one. It shows live fees, group restrictions, and whether the activity is open under your current licence type.

How activities are grouped

DMCC sorts activities into a few broad families. Knowing the family matters because each one has different rules on combinations, office requirements, and approvals.

Trading. General trading, specialised trading (gold, diamonds, tea, coffee, agri-commodities), and commodity-specific licences. A general trading licence costs more but lets you trade most physical goods under one roof.

Services. Management consultancy, marketing, IT services, HR consultancy, and the rest. Lower setup cost, usually no external approval, fast to issue.

Industrial. Light manufacturing, assembly, processing. You'll need a physical unit, not a flexi-desk.

Professional. Engineering consultancy, legal consultancy, accounting, architecture. These almost always need an external approval — engineering needs Dubai Municipality, legal consultancy needs DET and the Legal Affairs Department, and so on.

Regulated. Financial services, education, healthcare, media. Expect a longer timeline. DMCC won't issue the licence until the relevant regulator (SCA, KHDA, DHA, or the National Media Council) signs off.

Watch out: Mixing activities across families isn't always allowed. You generally can't combine, say, an industrial activity with a professional consultancy on one licence. Check the grouping rule before you finalise your shortlist.

Picking the right activities (and not too many)

Most DMCC packages allow up to six activities on a single licence at no extra fee. Past that, you pay per additional activity — fees vary, so check the live quote in the portal.

Three things to weigh when picking:

Match the activity to what you'll actually invoice for. Banks in the UAE are stricter than they used to be. If your licence says "management consultancy" but your invoices say "software development and reselling Microsoft licences", expect questions from compliance — and possibly a frozen account. The activity description on your licence should align with your real revenue.

Watch the approval flags. Activities marked for external approval add 2 to 8 weeks to your timeline and sometimes a separate fee. Crypto-related activities (proprietary trading, distributed ledger services) go through SCA and VARA (Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority) coordination. Honestly, this is where most timelines blow up.

Don't over-stack. Picking six activities "just in case" looks tidy but creates problems. Bank onboarding teams scrutinise broad licences. Pick what you'll actually do in year one. You can amend later for a fee — usually around AED 1,500 to AED 3,000 depending on the change, plus any new approval costs.

Activities that need extra approvals

A non-exhaustive sense of what triggers an external regulator:

• Financial services, asset management, crypto trading → SCA and/or VARA
• Education, training institutes, nurseries → KHDA
• Healthcare, clinics, telemedicine → DHA (Dubai Health Authority)
• Media production, publishing, broadcasting → National Media Council / UAE Media Council
• Engineering consultancy → Dubai Municipality
• Legal consultancy → DET and the Government of Dubai Legal Affairs Department
• Foodstuff trading, restaurants → Dubai Municipality Food Safety Department

DMCC coordinates the application with these bodies, but the timelines are theirs, not DMCC's. Build a realistic runway.^[2]

What the licence actually costs

DMCC's published packages start around AED 12,500 for the licence fee plus registration, with flexi-desk packages from roughly AED 20,000 to AED 35,000 all-in for year one depending on the activity mix and visa allocation. Regulated activities cost more. Industrial activities cost more still because you need a physical unit, and rent in DMCC towers (JLT) varies sharply by building and floor.

Activity changes mid-term are possible. You file an amendment in the portal, pay the fee, and if a new external approval is needed, you wait for it. A licence amendment without external approval usually clears in 3 to 5 working days.

A quick sanity check before you submit

Three questions to ask yourself:

Does the activity wording match what your invoices will say? Will the activity trigger external approval, and have you budgeted the extra weeks? Are all your activities in compatible groups so DMCC won't bounce the application?

If yes to all three, you're in decent shape. If you're guessing on any of them, get a second opinion before you pay the registration fee — amendments are cheaper than restarts, but both cost time you don't get back.

For broader setup context, see our civil and commercial law guides.

Need this checked for your situation? Talk to a UAE-licensed lawyer →

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Sources

^[1] DMCC, "Business Activities" search tool, dmcc.ae (accessed 2025). ^[2] DMCC Company Regulations 2020 and DMCCA Licensing Rules, published on dmcc.ae.