United Arab Emirates Company Registry: How It Actually Works

If you're trying to verify a UAE company, register a new entity, or chase down ownership details on a counterparty, you've probably already discovered there's no single "Companies House" here. The United Arab Emirates company registry is fragmented across the federal Ministry of Economy, seven emirate-level Departments of Economic Development, and roughly 45 free zone authorities. Each runs its own database, fee schedule, and disclosure rules.

Quick answer

There's no unified United Arab Emirates company registry. Mainland companies sit with each emirate's Department of Economic Development (DED) — Dubai's DED, Abu Dhabi's ADDED, and so on — while free zone companies sit with their respective free zone authority (DMCC, DIFC ROC, ADGM Registration Authority, JAFZA, and others). The Ministry of Economy maintains a federal Commercial Register that aggregates licence data, but for ownership, share capital, and director details you usually need to query the specific licensing authority that issued the trade licence. Costs to obtain a basic commercial extract range from AED 100 to AED 520 depending on the jurisdiction.

Who actually holds the records

The federal layer is the Ministry of Economy. Under Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on Commercial Companies (the new CCL), Article 16 requires every company to be entered in the Commercial Register maintained at the relevant licensing authority, and the Ministry consolidates a federal copy. Useful in theory. In practice, the federal portal gives you a licence existence check — not the juicy details.

The real records live one layer down.

For mainland Dubai, that's the Department of Economy and Tourism (formerly DED), which runs the "Dubai BusinessNow" portal and issues commercial extracts via Invest in Dubai. Abu Dhabi mainland goes through ADDED (Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development). Sharjah uses SEDD. Each emirate has its own equivalent, and honestly, the user experience varies wildly.

Free zones are entirely separate registries. The DIFC Registrar of Companies (ROC) operates under DIFC Companies Law DIFC Law No. 5 of 2018 and publishes a public register at difc.ae with searchable entity data, directors, and filed accounts for public companies. ADGM's Registration Authority runs a similar public search at adgm.com — and frankly, it's the cleanest interface of the lot. DMCC, JAFZA, RAKEZ, SHAMS, IFZA, Meydan, and dozens of others each maintain their own records.

A practical takeaway: before you spend an hour searching, find out which authority issued the licence. The trade licence number itself usually tells you.

What information you can actually get

This is where most clients get the wrong expectation. The UAE is not the UK. Beneficial ownership data is not freely public, despite the Cabinet Resolution No. 58 of 2020 on Beneficial Owner Procedures requiring companies to maintain and file UBO registers with their licensing authority. The UBO register is filed — but disclosed only to regulators and competent authorities, not to the public.

What you can get from the united arab emirates company registry depends on the jurisdiction:

• Mainland (Dubai DET, ADDED, etc.): trade name, licence number, licence status (active/expired/cancelled), legal form, registered activities, issue and expiry dates, and the registered address. Shareholder names appear on the licence itself for LLCs. Share capital is shown.
• DIFC: full company profile, registered office, directors, secretary, shareholders (for private companies, in most cases), filed accounts for PLCs, charges register, and incorporation documents available for purchase.
• ADGM: similar to DIFC — directors, shareholders, registered address, articles, and filings available through the online register.
• Other free zones: usually a basic existence check. Ownership and director details require a formal extract request and sometimes a justified interest.

DIFC and ADGM lean Anglo. The rest lean civil law and confidential.

Watch out: A "good standing certificate" is not the same as a commercial extract. If a counterparty sends you only a good standing letter, ask for the commercial licence and, where available, the certificate of incumbency or extract showing current shareholders and managers.

How to pull an extract — the actual process

For Dubai mainland, the fastest route is the Invest in Dubai portal (invest.dubai.ae) or the DET service centres. A commercial extract — locally called a "trade licence print" or "company profile" — costs around AED 220 and is issued within minutes if the company is in good standing. Certified hard copies attested for use abroad cost more once you add Ministry of Foreign Affairs attestation (around AED 150 per document, 2024 pricing).

For DIFC, head to the ROC portal under "Public Register." A standard search is free. Certified extracts and copies of constitutional documents cost between USD 100 and USD 350 depending on document type. DIFC publishes its fee schedule under the Operating Law and its regulations.

ADGM works similarly through its online registry. Basic searches free. Certified documents typically USD 50 to USD 200.

For other free zones — say RAKEZ or DMCC — you generally need to email the registrar with the licence number and a stated purpose. Expect 2 to 5 working days and fees in the AED 100 to AED 500 range.

Typical costs (2024):
- Dubai DET commercial extract: AED 220
- MOFA attestation per document: AED 150
- DIFC certified extract: USD 100–350
- ADGM certified extract: USD 50–200
- Free zone profile letter: AED 100–500

Verifying a counterparty before you sign

This is the part that pays for itself. Before signing a supply agreement, JV, or settlement with any UAE entity, you should at minimum pull:

1. The current trade licence (check expiry — an expired licence means the company technically can't transact).
2. A commercial extract showing the current shareholders and authorised signatories.
3. The Memorandum of Association or equivalent constitutional document, if you need to verify signing authority for a specific transaction.
4. For free zone companies, a certificate of good standing dated within the last 30 days.

Article 19 of the CCL makes any contract entered into by an unauthorised person voidable against the company. So if the person signing isn't on the licence or the MOA as a manager with the relevant authority, your contract is on thin ice. I've seen settlement agreements collapse because the "general manager" who signed had been removed two months earlier — and the counterparty knew.

Cross-check the licence number on the federal Ministry of Economy portal too. It's a free sanity check that the licence actually exists in the federal Commercial Register.

Don't skip this step on AED 50,000 deals. Skip it on AED 5 million deals and you deserve what happens next.

Beneficial ownership, sanctions, and the parts no one mentions

Since 2020, every UAE company outside DIFC and ADGM has been required to file a UBO register with its licensing authority under Cabinet Resolution No. 58 of 2020 (as amended). Penalties for non-compliance were tightened in 2022 — fines start at AED 50,000 and can escalate, with repeated failure leading to licence suspension.

You can't pull UBO data as a private party. But you can ask the counterparty to provide a UBO declaration and warrant it contractually. Any company unwilling to do that is telling you something.

Sanctions screening is separate. The UAE's Executive Office for Control & Non-Proliferation maintains the local terrorist list, and you should screen against UN, OFAC, and EU lists too. The united arab emirates company registry won't do this for you.

Tax registration is yet another layer. The Federal Tax Authority maintains TRN (Tax Registration Number) records — searchable on tax.gov.ae for VAT verification. With corporate tax now in force under Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022, expect TRN checks to become standard counterparty due diligence within the next two years.

A blunt closing thought: the United Arab Emirates company registry isn't one place, it isn't fully public, and the official-looking PDF your counterparty sent you may not say what you think it says. When the deal size justifies it, get a lawyer to pull and read the extract.

---

Citations

[1] Federal Decree-Law No. 32 of 2021 on Commercial Companies, Articles 16, 19. UAE Ministry of Economy. [2] DIFC Companies Law, DIFC Law No. 5 of 2018. DIFC Legal Database, difc.ae. [3] ADGM Companies Regulations 2020. Abu Dhabi Global Market, adgm.com. [4] Cabinet Resolution No. 58 of 2020 Regulating the Beneficial Owner Procedures (as amended by Cabinet Resolution No. 109 of 2022). UAE Ministry of Economy. [5] Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2022 on the Taxation of Corporations and Businesses. UAE Federal Tax Authority, tax.gov.ae. [6] Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, fee schedule and services. invest.dubai.ae. [7] DIFC Registrar of Companies, public register and fee schedule. difc.ae/business/public-register. [8] ADGM Registration Authority, online registry. adgm.com/registration-authority.

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